Me in this Android Body
by agent000
Summary: It's wrong to try to resurrect the dead, but is it right to try and prolong life? Is it messing with fate? I'm supposed to be dead, so why am I still alive? Al, what did you do to me?
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey, everyone! Here is yet another one of those weird ideas I came up with, and just had to write about. Heh, will the weird ideas never stop? (The answer is no, I don't think so. Not unless you know of a way to do a brain transplant, because I'm stuck with a crazy neurotic brain! hehe) Anyway, I have no idea whether this is any good or not, it's kind of an experimental fic, so please let me know your thoughts on it. (SakuraSagura, this is the fic I was telling you about. I especially want YOUR feedback on this one! Hehe)_**

**_Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this fic, regardless of how strange the idea is. (Heck, all of my ideas are strange. Isn't that why you keep reading my fics?)_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist. Yep, believe it or not, I don't own it. I'm trying to convince Ed and Al that I'm their real owner though. I think that I almost have Al convinced, but Ed's still pretty skeptical about it. Heh._**

Edward was dying. The aftereffects of restoring Al's normal body had left him very weak. Now, he was bedridden and coughing up blood just like his teacher used to. He didn't have much time left.

Al wasn't ready to let go of his brother just yet, especially after all Ed had done for him. No, there must be a way to save him. When Al had lost his body, Ed had bound his soul to a suit of armor. Maybe AL could find something to bind Ed's soul to, but what? He didn't want to make his brother endure what he had had to endure for the rest of his life. He wanted him to live as normally as possible.

Al approached Winry with the question one day. Winry was leaning over a desk, reading a book, with several other books scattered around, some open, some closed. They were all about robotics. So, was WInry branching out her skills into other fields?

"Winry, I've been thinking about Brother…" Al began.

"I have too," interrupted WInry, "And I've been studying day and night, trying to find some way to save him."

That startled Al a little bit, though he realized it shouldn't have. Winry loved his brother almost as much as he himself did.

"Have you found anything?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said, "But it would require binding his soul. Are you even capable of doing that?"

"I think so," answered Al, "I've seen the Gate, after all. What have you found?"

"I've been studying robotics a lot lately, because I think that if you could bind Ed's soul to it, I could create an android body for him. That way, he'd look and feel almost the same as with a human body," said Winry.

"You mean you want to turn my brother into a robot?" Al said.

WInry turned around and faced him with an annoyed look on her face. "You want to save him, don't you? Have you been able to come up with anything better?"

Al shook his head, and admitted he hadn't. "I had actually come over to ask you what I could bind his soul too, but I guess that you already answered that for me."

Winry sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. So, do we do it, or don't we?"

Al shrugged. "I don't see any better way. We can't just stand back and let brother die, but we mustn't let him know that we're doing this. He'd kill us."

"Agreed," said Winry, "It'll just be our little secret."

Over the course of the next few weeks, WInry gathered all the materials required to build such a robot and began assembling them. It was a good thing that she was an auto-mail mechanic, or this would have taken her forever. Al dropped by every so often to check on her progress and to remind her that Edward's chin was more pointed than that or that his hair went past his shoulders. Winry would sigh, shrug, and make the necessary adjustments. It really was difficult making a robot that looked exactly like someone you knew.

Finally, she made the last connection, and she was done. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. Phew! That was a big job, but there was no time to rest. Edward's prognosis wasn't for more than a few days longer, at most.

"Al," called Winry, "Come here for a moment, will you?" Al walked over to where Winry was kneeling beside the android, and jumped.

"If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn that that was brother, and not an android look-alike."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Winry as she reached behind the android's neck and applied a little pressure with her hand. A small door opened, showing a plain, flat sheet of metal.

"This is where his blood seal will have to go," said Winry. "I wanted to make sure that it was in a safe place, so that he wouldn't have to constantly guard it."

"That was very smart of you," said Al, who proceeded to grab a knife, slit his finger, and draw a design on the metal surface with his blood. Winry closed the little door again, and then sat in silence, thinking.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked.

"Well," said Al, scratching his head, "I can't bind his soul until he has left his body, but we'll have to be quick about it, because if I wait too long, it would be too late."

Winry thought for another moment, and then said, "We need to get his body into his room before that happens, so that time will be on our side. Of course, we can't let him know what we're doing. How much of the time does he sleep?"

"Most of the time," said Al, sadly, "He's really weak."

Winry cast her eyes down at the floor, and muttered, "I see," than snapped her attention back at Al and said, "Well, then let's hurry up and get this thing in his room."

The two people carefully carried the android into Edward's room, and lay it on the floor. Thankfully, Edward was asleep. Winry grabbed a sheet and threw it over the android, so that Edward wouldn't see it if he woke up.

Al and Winry heard some irregular breathing coming from Edward's general direction, so the two spun around and looked at Ed. Edward opened his eyes. "Al…"

Al grabbed Ed's hand and held it tight. "I'm here, Brother."

"Where's Winry?" Ed asked.

"I'm right here, Ed," she said, stepping up and grasping his other hand.

Edward smiled, and said, "Good, I'm glad that I could see you both one last time." He paused for a moment, and then added, "I can't hang on any longer. I have to go. I love you." With that, his arms went limp, and his head fell back onto his pillow. He was gone.

"Al, hurry!" shouted Winry. Al rushed over to the android and placed his hands on the body.

"Brother, please don't leave us yet. We want you…we need you…so badly!" The air compressed in the room as the energy level soared. Al's hands shook as the massive amount of energy coursed through them. Winry gasped for air. This was one powerful transmutation.

Finally, the energy level died down and the air pressure returned to normal. Al removed his hands from the android's chest, and waited. He hoped that he'd succeeded. Winry took the sheet and covered up Edward's dead body, just in case the transmutation was a success. He didn't need to figure out that he was a robot yet. It would be too big a shock, after coming back to life.

Al and Winry were both on edge as they waited for something to happen. If only there were a way to monitor whether he was alive or not, but how could that be done when it was an android body?

After what seemed like an eternity, the android's eyes fluttered open. "Al? Winry? Am I still alive?"

Al and Winry were so overjoyed that they threw their arms around Ed and cried. If felt a little strange, hugging an android, but he was still Ed, android or not.

When the two finally released Ed, he stood up and examined his body. "How did I survive? I thought I had died."

"You did," Winry admitted, "But Al…transmuted you."

Edward gasped. "He resurrected my body and soul?"

Winry shifted uneasily. "Sort of." Edward threw his arms around Al and thanked him for saving his life. He then threw one of his arms around Winry too, and the three sat there, crying. Actually, only Al and Winry were crying. Ed couldn't, and he couldn't figure out why.

By and by, the three stood up. "So, how do you feel?" asked Winry.

"Never better," said Ed, stretching his arms and taking a deep breath. Yes, she made him capable of breathing to make it easier to communicate. While speech didn't require him to breathe, certain forms of body language, such as sighing, did.

"I'm glad to hear it," said WInry, as she smiled a very wide grin. His body was truly her greatest masterpiece.

Later that day, Winry was preparing dinner in the kitchen when her grandmother. "He's going to notice that something's going on when he find that he doesn't have an appetite," said Pinako. Winry gasped. How had Granny known about this? Maybe all grandmothers were that intuitive.

Winry sighed. "I know he'll have to find out sooner or later, but I don't want to hit him with the truth just yet. It would come as too big of a shock to him."

"The sooner he knows they he's no longer human, the sooner he'll be able to come to terms with it," said Pinako.

But I just can't tell Edward that we bound his soul to an android body!" Winry cried.

Just outside the kitchen, overhearing the conversation, was Edward. What were they talking about? He wasn't a robot…was he? He felt normal, well almost, and he thought and felt just like a human being. How could he possibly be a robot?

Edward reached back to scratch his neck, but applied a little more pressure to that area than he normally would have. The little door on the back of his neck popped open. Startled, he reached his hand into the opening, and touched the sheet of metal. He gasped. He would know the feeling of a blood seal anywhere. They had bound his soul to this body, this…android…body!

He buried his face in his hands and let out a scream as he dropped to his knees. This was why he couldn't cry. This was why he had no appetite. This was why he felt in perfect health. He was nothing but a robot now!

Everyone came running into the room to see what the matter was. Winry was about to ask him, when she noticed the hatch on the back of his neck was open. He knew. She went and pressed it closed, and then knelt down beside Edward.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had bound my soul to a robot?" Edward cried, "Of rather, why didn't you tell me that you were going to do so? This body had to have taken a long time to make! Why did you hide this from me?"

Winry liften Edward's chin and made him stare into her eyes. "Would you have let us if we had told you?" Edward shook his head. Winry continued to explain, "Al and I weren't ready to give you up, Ed, we love you too much."

"But I'm not even human anymore!" Edward cried.

Winry sighed. "It's true that you don't have a human body, but your soul, the thing that makes one human, is still intact inside of you. To me and Al, you're still human."

"But I'm not human to anyone else!" Ed practically shouted.

"Does it even matter?" asked Winry. "Doesn't it only matter what your loved ones think of you? No one else's opinions matter."

Edward sighed. He knew she was right, but he just felt the need to argue with her right then. "How am I supposed to live in this body? I can't live a normal life, you know."

Winry grasped one of his hands and held it tight. He thought it strange that he could feel her grip. Winry must've created an artificial nervous system for him. She must've poured her whole heart into this project. He choked back a sob.

"I know that you won't have a normal life, Edward, but you can try to live a near-normal life. Even Al managed to live a near-normal life when his soul was still bound to that armor, and I made your body specifically so that you could blend into the crowd, and not stand out."

Edward sighed. He knew that he should be thanking her for this, but he wasn't ready to accept his fate yet. "Can I still do alchemy?" he asked.

"I don't know," Winry said, shaking her head. "Al could when he was in that suit of armor, so maybe you can. Why don't you just try it and find out?"

Ed clapped his hands together and grabbed a nearby object. He felt for the alchemical energy to course through. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to concentrate harder. Finally, he gave up. He had lost the ability.

"I'm so sorry, Ed," said Winry, almost crying.

"Don't be," said Ed, standing up. "I would've been dead right now had you and Al not done what you did. Alchemy was what got me into this mess in the first place, so maybe it's a good thing that I can't do it anymore." He turned to leave, but stopped just before exiting the room, and muttered, "Thanks for everything, by the way." He then walked out of the room.

Winry and Al sat together in complete silence for a moment or two. Winry looked up into Al's and and asked, "Did we do the right thing?"

Al coughed. "I think so. Brother is grateful to us too, though he's having a hard time accepting his situation. It will take him some time to get used to the idea. It'll take some time for all of us to get used to it."

Winry nodded. "I understand that. Poor Ed, though. I hope he's going to be alright."

Al didn't reply. Just then, Pinako stepped up and said, "Well, are you two going to come and eat your dinner before it gets cold?" The two chuckled, stood up, and followed Pinako into the dining room. It was kind of sad that Edward wouldn't be joining them, but at least he was alive. At least he was alive.

**_Well, there's the story. Do you want to see it continue? Leave me a review, and let me know what you think!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hey, everyone! This story has actually been updated, believe it or not, but not by me. This chapter is by SakuraSagura. She's one of my favorite authors on this site, so I consider it an honor that she was willing to co-author this story with me. We're going to rotate chapters. The next one will be by me, and the one after that by her, and so on. Since we're doing it that way, we have no idea where the story will end up, so that should make it extremely interesting! Heh. Hope that you enjoy this chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: Neither I nor SakuraSagura own FullMetal Alchemist, though we like to pretend we do, heh. Ok, I like to pretend I do, but I can't speak for her...I'm just guessing she does! Heh._**

Clanking of forks and spoons against dishes filled Ed's ears as he made his way up the steps. He couldn't believe he was an android! Was this how Al felt at first? Confusion, pain, joy, and yet sorrow? Ed knew he had gotten off easily compared to his brother. He could feel, breathe, and do almost everything like a normal human.

He opened the door to the room he and Al had been offered. It was the same room he had stayed in when they came to repair his arm. Ed numbly walked over to the bed, sat down, and sighed.

"I have to hand it to Winry though." He laughed sadly, "Without her I'd be dead..." He moved his fingers back and forth. They appeared to be flesh, Ed could feel with them, but they still weren't real. Suddenly a thought jerked through his mind.

Could he still sleep?

Ed wasn't sure if he could go the rest of his life without sleeping. He decided to give it a try. The sun was just about down all the way as Ed changed into his pajamas and crawled under the covers. 'Good so far...'

He thought. Ed lay down and closed his eyes. He waited. And waited.

And waited.

"I hope brother is doing alright." Al said after swallowing a slice of bread. Pinako said he was a tough little boy who could handle almost anything. Al cringed at the 'almost' part.

"I made his body so that it functions as close to human as possible. It was quite a feat I might add." Winry said cheerfully, trying to make Al feel better. Al smiled, feeling as though the smile was a foreign object that didn't belong.

"So," Al began awkwardly after a moment of silence. "What can't Edward do now?" Winry thought for a moment. Pinako dropped a bone down to Den.

The dog, overjoyed, pounced on it happily.

"Well, he can't eat." Pinako mumbled. "He was my best eater too.

Nothing was ever left on a plate with him around." Al and Winry laughed dryly. It was true; Ed had had a stomach for five.

For the most part the rest of the supper was quiet. Except for Al and Winry's little conversations about the 'new' Edward. When Al was finished he promptly excused himself and made his way up the stairs. When he got to the door he waited. No sound. He opened the door and peered in. Ed was lying in bed, back to Al, and breathing softly.

'Is Ed asleep?' Al thought as he carefully opened the door just wide enough to get through. Al crept over quietly to Ed's bed. He put his foot down and there was a loud whine from the floor boards.

"Al?"

"AH!" Al fell back on his butt. Ed sat up and looked down at his taller, yet younger, brother.

"What are you doing?" Ed snapped. Al's face reddened and a sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head.

"Heh heh, I w-was just checking to see if you were asleep." Al confessed. Ed half smiled at Al's care. At least he wasn't treating him like he was a robot. Even though they all knew he was.

"Thanks Al." Ed replied before lying back down under the blue and white covers.

"...Brother?" Al asked once he was in his own bed. Ed grunted, his back turned to Al again. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Brother, can you still sleep?"

"N?" Ed muttered. He didn't want Al to worry... or freak out. Which ever came first.

"Winry said that she thinks you can." Al assured with fake cheer. It was a lie, he knew, but he just couldn't tell Ed.

"Really now? Is that what she thinks?" Ed huffed sharply, putting extra emphasis on 'thinks'. He hadn't meant to sound angry with Al, but he did.

"S-sorry..." Al winced before lying down himself. After a second he added, "Good night, brother."

"Night Alphonse." Ed called over to Al. 'Yeah,' Ed thought in angst,

'Yeah, right...'

By the time the sun was up so was Ed. He had gotten out of bed as quietly as possible. He was in the kitchen making himself some toast when he remembered he couldn't eat.

"Den'll like it..." Ed mumbled. He made his way to the front door.

There was Den, curled in a ball, sleeping. "Here Den!" Ed chirped while holding the half made toast out to the black and white dog. Den opened one lazy eye, took the bread, and fell back asleep. Ed laughed to himself.

After a while of going around the house he decided he needed a walk. So he grabbed the nearest piece of paper, scribbled down where he was going, and left it on the table.

The sun greeted him shyly from behind several clouds as he stepped outside. The air was crisp, which was odd for a robot to notice, and sky still framing both sun and moon. He started his way down the dusty road.

**_Did you like this chapter? Then please, leave a review! Give her some encouragement, will ya? Heh. (Yeah, I guess I get more demanding when I'm soliciting reviews for someone other than myself, heh heh.) Besides, I'll update sooner if you leave her some good reviews, hehe. That ought to convince you to review, hehehe._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Hey, everybody, thanks for reviewing that last chapter! I know that the reviews weren't directed at me for the most part, but I still appreciate that you reviewed, hehe. One wants their co-author to have as much respect as they themselves get, right? Hehehe._**

**_Anyway, since you reviewed, I wrote up a new chapter for you. Hope that you like it. Feel free to tell me what you think._**

**_Disclaimer: Still Disclaiming. Yep, don't own nothing._**

Ed paced along the side of the road, kicking stones that had made their way into his path. He had to have something to take his aggression out on, and it might as well be something that wasn't alive. Wait, was he even technically alive? He didn't have an organic body anymore. Was an organic body a prerequisite for being alive?

Ed reached down and picked up a rock and threw it at a nearby tree. He shouldn't be thinking such things. He had never questioned whether Al was alive or not when he was in that suit of armor, nor did he question whether he was human. Of course, he remembered, Al had wondered all those things. Now he understood why. He even had gotten off better than Al had, yet he was still having these questions, these doubts. It must be a big shock, no matter what kind of body you're given.

"Hey, Ed, you're finally out of bed?" Ed spun around to see who had just spoken. It was one of their childhood friends. He was accompanied by two other people close to his age, a girl who Ed knew was his sister, and a boy.

"Heh," said Ed, "Uh, yeah, I'm finally out of bed."

"Good to hear it," said the boy, slapping Ed on the back, "You had us all worried for a while there."

I wish you wouldn't touch me, thought Ed, I'd rather not have you discover what has happened to me.

Of course, the friend didn't notice, and just kept talking, though Ed didn't hear most of it. He was too busy obsessing over the fact that he no longer fit in with the rest of those his age. In reality, he had never fit in with the rest of those his age, being totally obsessed with alchemy, but like all people in situations where a dramatic change has just occurred, he conveniently forgot about that.

"Hey, would you like to go out to eat somewhere to celebrate your recovery?" said the boy, "It's my treat."

Oh no, I've got to come up with an excuse quick. "Well, actually, my doctor will only let me eat certain things for awhile." He hoped that that didn't sound rude.

"That's okay, I understand," said the boy. "Would you like to hang out with us, anyway? We haven't really seen much of each other for some time."

Ed grimaced. He'd said he was going somewhere else in that note, but they weren't going to actually come searching for him, were they? It shouldn't hurt to go somewhere other than the place he'd written in the note.

"Sure, why not?" Edward shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do."

The four individuals turned and walked back to the boy's house. When they got to the house, the boy turned to his sister and said, "Hey, Alicia, go and get that new board game we got. I want to see how good Ed is at it."

"Sure, Ted." She walked off and was back in a moment carrying a game that was a lot like Monopoly. After teaching Ed the rules of the game, they proceeded to start playing it. Everyone was shocked to find out how good Ed was at the game. It even surprised Ed.

This game is really easy for me, he thought, too easy. This android body must be making it so that I can do all the calculations and stuff easily without any effort. There's really no challenge on my part. This is just as boring as when I cheat at poker against Al.

Ed chuckled lightly remembering that huge reaction Al had given when he'd caught him cheating a while back. Al watched him like a hawk since then, every time they played poker, or just about any other game.

Ed sighed and rubbed his eyes. "As strange as it sounds, this game just doesn't challenge me enough. I'm kind of bored."

"I thought you might be, considering how well you were doing. Man, are you smart!" said Ted. Ed chuckled. Ted had no idea.

Winry woke up and stepped out into the kitchen. She noticed a few breadcrumbs leftover from when Ed had prepared himself some toast which he couldn't eat, and she wondered who it was that had gotten up so early and prepared some toast. She looked over and saw Den still sleeping with the toast hanging out of his mouth, and she understood. Ed hadn't been able to fall asleep, and he had forgotten that he couldn't eat. The poor guy, he was sure taking this hard.

She grabbed a washcloth and wiped up the crumbs when she happened to spot the note. She sighed. A walk probably was the best thing for him right now, but she hoped he would be okay.

Back at Ted's house, the four individuals decided to go outside for a walk, since Ed was beating them at all their games with ease, and having a very bored time of it. So, Ed, Ted, Alicia, and Johan, Ted's friend, all stepped outside into the warm morning sunshine.

The four individuals walked along chatting about this and that, when Ed just happened to glance up, and saw a little girl run into the street just as a car was coming toward her.

Without a second thought, he leapt into the street and pushed her out of the way, but wasn't able to get himself out of the way before the car smashed into him. Both his legs and his left arm were severely damaged, but he didn't feel any pain, because his nervous system had gone offline as soon as the collision had occurred. He couldn't feel a thing.

The three friends came running up to him. "Ed, are you okay?" Then, they noticed the severely damaged limbs and the metal and wires sticking out of them. Their jaws dropped as they stared at Ed. What the heck was going on here?

**_Okay, hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please review! SakuraSagura, now it's your turn. Wonder what you'll write in response to this? Hehehe...who knows? Heh._**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Wow! I sure got a lot of reviews on that last chapter. I can't believe how much you guys like cliffhangers, hehehe. (I get so many more reviews on chapters with cliffhangers than I do on chapters without, unless the chapter's just plain cute, or something. Why, I don't know. I guess that people just like to have their emotions toyed with.)_**

**_Anyway, here's SakuraSagura's next installment. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Sorry that this wasn't up sooner. I overslept yesterday, and didn't make it to the library. (Gotta love that overnight shift that makes you sleep during the daytime.) Hope you like it. I like it, anyway. Heh. I happen to enjoy her style of writing, and I like the way she's writing this story too, hehe._**

**_Disclaimer: Neither one of us owns FullMetal Alchemist, though she has confirmed for me that she indeed likes to pretend she owns it, just like I do. Heh. Yep, just as I had guessed. Hehehe. Hmmm...is there any way to trick Ed into thinking that I do own him? There must be a way..._**

Everything was silent with all eyes on Ed. People passing by on the popular country road stopped and stared at the mechanical boy. The car kept driving away, its motor coughing all the while. The girl he just saved gazed over at him with big brown eyes.

"What is it?" Ed asked as he struggled to stand. Alicia stepped back behind Johan and Ted, she let out a gasp. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"What the..." Ted's voice cracked as he stared dumbly. Ed looked down at his body. Oh no! Now they would find out!

"Um, I can... I can explain!" Ed said hastily and waved his working hand back and forth. Johan and Ted exchanged glances.

"What happened to you?" Johan questioned suddenly. They didn't know?

"Ah, well, actually, I kind of, you see..." Ed blushed brightly, which was odd because of being an android and all, and grabbed his left arm with his right hand. "Winry made some really good 'auto-mail' for me!"

He said. At that moment his knees gave way.

"Are you alright?" Ted asked as he and Johan helped him up. "We better take you to the Rockbells'. They'll fix your broken auto-mail for you."

Ed felt fear tred over him. What would Winry do when she...

"EDWARD ELRIC! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MASTER PIECE?" Winry screamed when she saw Ed hobbling with Ted, Johan, and Alicia up to her house. Winry stood on the porch next to a barking Den. Her face was mixed with pure anger and worry. Den dashed over to the four and barked them all the way home.

"Sorry..." Ed sighed as he bumped his way up the steps. Nothing was going right anymore!

"Is that all you can say? I don't know what you did but you could have died!" Winry shouted with tears in her blue eyes. The heavy depression

Ed was already bearing became heavier. He was supposed to be dead anyway.

"Winry," Alicia came over to Winry and put a hand on her shoulder before continuing, "Ed's only hurt because he saved someone's life. Without him Miranda would be either hurt badly or dead!"

"It's true." Johan said when Winry gave him and Ted an 'are you serious' look. Winry, tears still threatening to fall, called Ed a life saving idiot before going inside to get ready for repairs.

"Thanks guys... I thought she'd kill me." Ed chuckled slightly. Ted and

Johan helped him onto the couch and Alicia went over to the phone to call home and tell her parents where they were. Later, when Al came into the room, he started franticly talking with Ed. It was more so a one way conversation since Al didn't wait for Ed to respond.

"Brother, what happened? Where'd you go? Why are Ted and Alicia and Johan here? What happened to your legs? Your arm is busted too? Why did you leave so early? Why didn't you take Den along?" Those, and many more questions, came spewing from Al's mouth. Ed tried his best to answer but he couldn't keep up with Al. After about two minutes, and 200 questions, Ted cut in,

"Let him breath Alphonse!" He laughed as he entered the room with some equipment of Winry's. He gently set it down on a nearby table. Ed cringed, was it going to be worse than auto-mail pain? That's when it really hit him that he couldn't feel.

"Hey, we'll need to go soon guys." Alicia piped up from the kitchen, where she was helping Pinako with supper. Ted looked over his shoulder and called,

"Ask Ma if we can stay for dinner!" Alicia said she would. She quickly went over to the phone and began to dial.

"Sorry, Al..." Ed whispered to his little brother. Al jerked around to face an upset looking Ed. He looked relieved and yet filled with regret as he said,

"No Edward, I'm the one that's sorry."

"For what?"

"...This." Al whispered back. Ted, who wasn't all that far away, turned back to setting up the equipment. It was rude to eaves drop.

Winry came into the room with Alicia. She was looking slightly rushed as she went over to the work table. She said to Ted, "Your mom wants you to come home. Sorry, for all the trouble."

"Okay, take care. Come on guys!" Ted called as he went to get ready to leave. Alicia and Johan both said their goodbyes and proceeded to leave.

"Thanks Winry." Ed mumbled from the couch. Winry looked over at the android. His golden eyes portrayed hurt. The smile on Winry's face faded quickly. Poor Guy...

"No problem! We didn't have enough food for them anyways!" She perked up happily. Winry gave an okay sign when she said, "Besides, when you get the bill you'll owe us a pretty penny or two." That made Ed and Al both feel better. She was treating this like it was just another auto-mail tune up. Ed smiled at the thought that crept into his mind.

Just like old times...

He then had a burning desire to do something. Ed simply brushed it aside before saying in a jerky tone,

"So, uh, will this hurt?"

**_So, did you like the chapter? I hope so. Anyway, leave a review, and I'll make sure to update soon. Equivalent trade, right? Heh. You want updates, you've got to leave reviews. Especially when it's my co-author writing. (Yes, I can really get like a mother hen with certain people, hehehe.) So...in a word...review!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_For goodness' sake, we only got one review on that last chapter! Come on, can't you guys type? Heh, I was tempted not to update until we got a few more reviews, but I decided to update anyway for Sakura-chan's sake. This chapter is dedicated to Sakura-chan and our one reviewer. Just note: There have been times in my other stories where I haven't updated very quickly because I didn't get very many reviews. If you want me to update quickly, you've got to review. Understand? Heh._**

**_Disclaimer: Don't ask. See last chapter's disclaimer._**

"No, silly, it won't hurt," said Winry, answering his question about whether repairing his body would be painful or not, "Your nervous system is offline, so you can't feel anything, let alone pain. I won't turn it back on until you've been repaired, so that you don't have to feel any pain from it."

Edward let out a sigh of relief. That was one thing he was glad to leave behind, auto-mail paid. He looked up at her and asked, "So how long to you think this'll take?"

"Don't be so impatient!" snapped Winry, "It'll take a while before I can get you repaired."

"I only wanted a rough idea of how long that would be," he said. "I can wait a long as it takes, but it would be nice to have some sort of idea about how much time I should expect."

Winry sighed. "It took me weeks to build your body from scratch, but I think that I might be able to get you repaired within a week if I rush."

"A week…" Edward mused, "Okay, I can wait a week, I guess."

Den came up and pushed his nose into Edward's leg. He moaned a pitiful little doggy moan. Ed reached over with his one good arm and scratched his ear. "Don't feel bad for me, Den. Winry will have me fixed up soon." Edward sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I just wish I didn't feel so useless. I hate sitting around."

Al coughed. "I-I'm sorry, Brother."

Edward looked up. "For what?"

"I'm sorry for binding your soul to that body. It was wrong of me to try and interfere with fate. I've made you life miserable. For that, I'm sorry."

"No, Al, it's okay, really," Edward consoled. "It just takes some getting used to is all. I did the same thing to you. Don't feel bad about this; my situation's better than yours was, after all. I'd rather be an android than be dead." Ed shivered at the last sentence. HE had just called himself an android. Creepy.

"Are you serious?" asked Al. "Are you sure that you're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Of course I'm sure. Do I look like the kind of person who would lie to your face just to make you feel better?"

"Yes."

"Okay, okay, so I'm the type to stretch the truth a bit, but I'm not doing that right now. I seriously do prefer being an android to being dead."

Al sighed. "I hope that's true, Brother. I hate to see you so miserable."

Den suddenly jumped up, and went and scratched at the door, whining to be let out. Al looked at Ed. Ed smiled a weak little smile and said, "You go ahead and let him out. I'll be fine." Al nodded, and got up. He opened the door, and followed Den outside.

Edward leaned back into the chair he was in and sighed. He was such a burden to those he loved now. True, he wanted to be alive, but he didn't want to be a burden to everyone. Had Al felt this way when he was in that suit of armor?

He decided to go lie down in his room. His legs didn't technically work, but he could still move them, since his soul was bound to this body, after all. He would just have to be extra careful to distribute his weight evenly while walking, to avoid causing further damage.

He carefully lay down in his bed, and closed his eyes. Whether he could sleep or not, this helped him to sort out his thoughts. Even if his body didn't need rest, his mind still did.

He lay still in his bed like that for about half an hour before Winry burst into the room and exclaimed, "Edward! What are you doing in here? You shouldn't be moving around!"

"Sorry," said Edward, rubbing his eyes. It's not like his eyes felt like they needed rubbing, it was just a habit. "I just needed some time alone to think."

"Why didn't you ask someone to help you?" she demanded.

"I'm too much of a burden on you guys as it is."

Tears started coming to Winry's eyes. She tried to blink them back, but they started slipping down her face. Edward noticed them. Had be been able to, he would have started crying right then.

"Ed," she said, "You're not a burden to us. We love you. You could never be a burden to us."

"But I'm causing you so much trouble."

At this, she almost shouted, "It's trouble that we chose to endure! We could have let you die, but we didn't. We knew the consequences of our actions before we did anything. We were well aware of the challenges ahead, and we were, and still are, prepared to face them."

Ed chuckled and turned to look at the wall. Winry continued to stare at him with teary eyes. Neither of them could say anything.

"You did realize before you started this project that I didn't have a body to return to, didn't you? It's not quite the same situation as with Al. I'll be like this for the rest of my life. Are you sure that you're prepared to face that?"

Winry practically ran over to the bed, plopped down beside him, and threw her arms around him, sobbing the whole time.

"Of course we're prepared to face that," she cried, "Al and I will happily go through anything with you. We both love you unconditionally, Ed." Ed cast his gaze to the floor to avoid the look on Winry's face. He couldn't say anything right then. He needed to be left alone. Somehow, Winry got the hint, and got up and left the room.

"Where's Brother?" asked Al when he finally came back into the house.

"He's resting in your guys' room," said Winry, "He seems kind of bummed out, so I wouldn't recommend disturbing him just yet."

"Is he asleep?" asked Al.

"I don't think he can sleep," said Winry, "I never built such a feature into him. I wouldn't even know how to do so."

"Poor Brother," Al sighed. "He's sure taking this hard. I really feel sorry for him."

During the next few days, Winry meticulously worked on Ed's damaged limbs. Edward had finally consented to being helped around, so someone helped move him every time he needed a change of scenery. He still felt like he was a burden though, and he felt guilty every time he asked for help, but he couldn't wipe the sad expression Al and Winry had given him out of his mind. Asking for help seemed to be the only way to keep them from being sad like that.

Finally, Winry popped into the room where Ed was propped up in a chair, looking out the window. "Ed, today's the big day! I finally have new limbs for you, and I'm ready to connect them."

Edward barely turned his head from the window, but managed a weak little smile. "Good, I'll be glad to get out of this chair, and stop bothering you."

Winry huffed and pulled out her wrench like she wanted to smack him with it, but couldn't decide whether to go through with it or not. "Ed, we've already been through this. You're no bother to us. You're not a burden. We love you. We can't you understand that?"

Edward turned his head to face her, smiled, and then turned his head back to stare out the window. Winry sighed and began disconnection Ed's damaged limbs so that she could place the new ones on. Edward knew that she was doing that, but he couldn't feel anything. Heck, he didn't really care what she was doing at the moment, so he just continued to stare out the window. All he wanted was to not be a burden to those he loved anymore.

"There you are, all repaired," said Winry. "Now all I have to do is turn your nervous system back on." She opened a hatch in the back of Edward's head and flipped a few switches.

"Aw!" Ed suddenly jumped and jerked his hand up towards his head. "You said it wouldn't hurt!"

"It didn't, silly," said Winry, "That wasn't pain. You were just shocked to suddenly get your sense of feeling back."

Edward flexed the fingers on his newly restored hand. "Yeah, I guess you're right. That actually wasn't painful; it just kind of took me by surprise." He stood up and tapped his foot on the floor like he was testing it. "Thanks, Winry, I feel much better."

"You're more than welcome, Ed," said Winry, grabbing Ed's chin and making him face her, "Just don't damage this body, you hear?"

He put his hands up in an "I surrender" position and said, "Don't worry, I won't hurt myself again, I promise." Winry smiled and gave Edward a slap on the back as she left the room to go and attend to other things. Edward sighed as he watched her leave. He looked out the window once more. Would he never feel like he belonged anywhere? Where did he belong, anyway? In the grave, probably.

He thrust his hands into his pockets and left the room. He said goodbye to Al and Winry, and then stepped out of the house, taking Den with him, since Al insisted on that. There was something Ed needed to do, and he had to do it alone.

**_Hope you liked the chapter, now review, please! Also, Sakura-chan, if you ever want to put your own author notes in here (on either your chapters or mine) just include them in the format you usually put author notes in. I'll include them with mine. Heh._**

**_Anyway, hope to see you all back soon...in your reviews! Yes, please, please, please review! (Now I'm getting desperate, aren't I? Heh.)_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Hey, everyone! Thanks for all the good reviews last chapter! You deserve another chapter this time, hehe. Yeah, okay, I'm being silly. Heh._**

**_Anyway, just so you all know, I always put my author notes in bold italics. I never do anything else. (I might have tried other things a couple times when I was new to the site, but I now consistently put my author notes in bold italics.) So, any author notes you see NOT in bold italics are Sakura-chan's, not mine._**

**_Further, since both of our writing styles, and even formatting styles, are different, I usually try to edit her format a little bit before I upload the story, so that it doesn't look too dramatically different between chapters. So, if there are any spacing OR spelling errors, that's my fault, not hers. (Yeah, I edit spelling too. Heck, the little squiggly red lines bug me, so I fix those too. Hehe.)_**

**_Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the chapter. Leave some good reviews, and I'll update soon with my chapter! Yeah!_**

**_Disclaimer: Still disclaiming. Need I say more?_**

Edward walked along the dirt path for what seemed like forever, the dark brown dirt muddling his red and black boots, and Den right by his side. Edward felt upset and angry with himself. He was such a burden on everybody! He kicked stones and swiped the heads of flowers right off. This made Den yelp when Edward almost hit him.

"Sorry boy." Edward apologized while rubbing Den's head. When the dog seemed braver again they continued. Edward's face was a mix of fear, hate, and pity. Anyone could see he wasn't happy. Suddenly there was a jerk in his artificial stomach. The graveyard was up ahead. He looked around to make sure nobody was in earshot before making his way solemnly past several tombstones, Den trotting happily behind him. As he grew closer he slowed down so he wouldn't have to face her as soon. Eventually he did though.

"Mom?" Edward said like a child who had just awoken from a nightmare. Of course no one responded but Edward sat down anyway. Den noted this and sat down beside Edward. He stared at the grave for several minutes. The wind was getting colder and colder. Edward was shaking, but not from the wind, but from his mixed emotions. The sun was starting to sink and so was Edward's heart. Not the metal one of course but more so his soul.

"Mom, it's me Edward."

Silence.

"I guess I won't be seeing you again for quite sometime." Edward smiled softly in a pitiful way and whispered, "Don't tell Al or anybody but...

I was kind of glad that I would be seeing you again. If there is anything beyond this life I mean." After Edward was done saying that Den howled towards the sky.

Besides Den there was no response.

"I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I?" Edward asked aloud while pushing Den away from him. He wanted to be crying right now, but couldn't.

"Mom, am I even human now?" He took a deep breath and then cried out,

"Everyone says I'm still human. But I don't know how they think that when I can't eat or sleep or feel pain all the time or even have a life-" Edward stopped with eyes wide. Did he think like this when Al was trapped in a suit of armor? No, absolutely not! Al hadn't been able to do most of the more human things like Edward could now. Edward became angry with himself. How dare he feel pity for himself when Al couldn't even feel or look human for years. He looked up at Den and then back at the gravestone.

Quiet.

"Mom, thanks." With that he stood up, turned around, and began his way back home. Before he had even gone a good 5 feet however, he turned around and ran back to the tombstone. Den watched as Edward skidded to a halt.

"If you can hear me," Ed said a little louder than before, "I'm sorry.

Please forgive me for what my brother and I did." With that done he could return home.

Den was the first up the stairs. He began to bark for someone to open the door. Nobody did.

"Calm down you crazy dog." Edward laughed as he opened the door. Only when he shut the door did he realize how cold it was outside. Out of habit he went into the kitchen, getting a stepping stool to get into a cabinet, and stopped when he saw a note on the soft wooden table. It read,

Dear Edward,

The kids and I are out shopping. We need to pick something up. Please don't break anything or anyone while we're gone. And, please Edward, don't burn our house down. If you would give Den his supper too. And if you get mad stay away from anything valuable.

Love Granny Pinako

He sighed at the note. What did they think he was anyway? A short tempered shrimp who breaks a lot of things...? He shrugged it off, really not wanting to know the answer. He placed the stepping stool under the cabinet that had the sandwich fillings. He stretched his arms as far as he could. While he was reaching for peanut butter he thought of something,

'HEY! Winry can make me taller!' The next thing he knew he was on the floor with a broken container of peanut butter. So much for making a meal he couldn't eat! He stood up with large blobs of peanut butter all over his clothes.

"Den! Supper!" Edward called when he left the room to change. One chore down. Den practically teleported into the kitchen to get at the treat.

When he was almost to the stairs he heard the phone ring. He stumbled to get there before it stopped ringing. Edward picked up the phone and answered,

"Hello, Rockbell residence."

Then a voice, that Edward didn't think he'd ever hear again, said,

"This is General Roy Mustang speaking. Is Pinako Rockbell there?"

Edward choked at Mustang's voice. His upper face went blue and his head received sweatdrops. As far as he knew nobody had told his military peers that he was still alive. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was supposed to be dead! He shouldn't be answering the phone!

"Er... No she isn't here." Edward said desperately trying to change his voice. There was a pause.

"Who is this?" Asked a confused Mustang. Edward flinched. Uh oh...

"I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE! NEVER EVER CALL THIS HOUSE AGAIN, YOU HEAR?" With that he slammed the phone down. That was close.

Later, after Edward had changed, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned his and Al's room, took Den out twice in a row, and had finished making paper airplanes out of boredom there was a loud slam.

'Winry must be home.' Edward thought. He was right, for the next moment

Winry ran into the living room and grabbed Edward's gray sweatshirt collar and began to shake him. She was out of breath and breathing hard.

"Ed go hide!"

"W-why?"

"Just go!" She yelled and then ran back to the door. Edward did as he was told. He ran upstairs up into his room and under his bed.

Winry smoothed down her pink and blue long sleeved shirt and blue skirt before opening the door.

"Come on in!" She said trying to replicate happiness. She stepped aside so that Mustang could come in. Hawkeye, Havoc, and, of all the people they could have brought, Armstrong followed. Al and Pinako came in last.

Al whispered to Winry, "Where is Ed?"

Winry sweatdropped and laughed. Then under her breath she said, "Heh, I have no clue."

"What?"

"He is small so don't worry. He should be able to find many, many places to hide." Winry whispered into Al's ear. Al turned and glared at her for Ed.

"You know that if he was in this room and heard you he'd be screaming right now?" Al asked so that no one but Winry would hear him.

Before Winry could respond Pinako walked by saying, "Stop acting suspicious."

"Yes granny!" Both of them said, snapping out of it.

They entered the living room. Pinako, Winry, and Al's stomachs jerked at the sight of all the paper airplanes.

"Al, you should probably clean up your mess when you can." Havoc said while lighting a cigarette. Al laughed and nodded. Mustang sat down on the couch between Havoc and Hawkeye. Armstrong was glad to stand. Winry and Al sat on either side of Pinako on another couch. Everyone stared at each other. Mustang broke the silence.

"So, who was here to answer the phone?"

'He wouldn't have been so stupid, would he?' Al wondered before replying in a quivering tone,

"No one, you probably got the wrong number." Mustang raised an eyebrow but didn't push the subject. Hawkeye took out some papers and handed them to Mustang. Even though their faces stood impassive their eyes betrayed the fact that they missed Edward as well.

"Now, as you know, Edward Elric died as a part of the military. So we should discuss the matter of where his funeral will be." Mustang said doing his best to control his voice from shaking. Al, Winry, and Pinako exchanged glances. Then they stated together,

"HERE!"

"I told you they would say that, General." Havoc spoke up and blew a ring of smoke. Mustang ignored him.

Hawkeye was the next to speak, "A large majority of the military would be here then." She looked up at the three family members of Edward's.

"No, it has to be private." Al stuttered.

Armstrong flexed his muscles, shirt magically disappearing, and cried out, "I MUST ACCOMPANY YOU THEN AND SAY MY FAREWELLS! OH EVEN NOW I CAN HERE EDWARD'S VOICE! AND-" He stopped and listened, "And I believe I really can hear that boy."

Everyone was quiet as they listened to Edward scream,"Den, no! Get away! Ow! Thats my hair you jerk! I'll give you peanut butter later! JUST DON'T EAT ME!"

Al's gray-blue eyes went wide. That idiot... The military officers looked over at Al, Winry, and Pinako. Pinako was smoking from her long pipe in an 'I could care less' manner.

"He... isn't alive is he?" Havoc asked in a startled voice. Hawkeye was looking at the ceiling at the spot where most of the noise was coming from.

"DEN stop! Let me get up! AH!"

"He sounds alive." Mustang mused. He stood up and began walking towards the stairs. His subordinates followed.

"I'll go make dinner." Pinako told Al and Winry. The next second the two were right behind Mustang.

"Fullmetal answered the phone, didn't he?" The General inquired coldly. Al said that it was impossible and that they should all come down stairs and get ready for supper. Mustang kept walking. Only when he opened the door the Ed and Al's room did he stop and stare. The sight made Havoc drop his cigarette.

Den was attacking/licking a blonde boy with peanut butter in his blonde hair. The boy was still under the bed and was struggling to get out and run away from the dog. He was flailing his arms and feet. His gray sweatshirt and black pants were slightly wet from slobber.

"Den, bad dog!" Winry shouted at Den. He instantly came trotting over to her.

"Uh, finally! Thanks Win-" Edward stopped dead when he saw who was standing in the doorway.

This was bad...

-My note-

Hello, this time it's me, SakuraSagura, typing to you! Lol, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I really hope it's longer than normal. It still seems short... Anyway, if you have any human emotion please leave a review. If I get more reviews than normal I'll write longer! You don't want me to beg, do you? Well, after you're done leaving a review please go check out agent0's and my other stories! I have one perfect for fangirls of Edward called 'Ed & You'. And agent0 has a ton of great stories too!

Before I actually read them I was like 'are these really going to be all that good?' Then I read them and now I'm hooked. Lol, I'll see you and your reviews next chapter!

-SakuraSagura


	7. Chapter 7

**_Wow! You guys are starting to actually get into this story, judging by your reviews, hehe. Thanks so much for the reviews, we really appreciate it! It made me want to update sooner!_**

**_Heh, yeah, some of you leave longer reviews and ask a bunch of questions. Let me just say this now for the benefit of all...It's perfectly alright to do so! It actually helps us come up with ideas when you do that! Hehe...yeah, some of the questions you've asked in your reviews have actually been inspirations for part of the plot...if you can call this a plot, since we haven't the slightest idea where this is going. Heh. Please, if you're inclined to leave long reviews, or ask questions, offer comments or suggestions, please continue to do so. They are very helpful._**

**_Well, hope that you enjoy this chapter. I have no idea how good it is. Sakura-chan threw me a curve ball with that last chapter, but I'm always up for a challenge. Hope this is a good enough response. Maybe you can let me know whether it is or isn't._**

**_Disclaimer: We cannot, andwill not own FullMetal Alchemist. Hmmm...somehow, that doesn't sound right unless you say "recant" after saying "cannot and will not". Heh. I'm no Martin Luther. Hehe._**

"Colonel Mustang!" shouted Ed as he saw Roy standing in the doorway.

"That's General Mustang to you, Fullmetal!"

"You-You've been promoted?" said Edward.

"That's not half as surprising as you still being alive, Fullmetal," said General Mustang. "We thought you were dead. Everyone says you're dead. Even your own family was acting like you were dead, so how is it that you're still alive?"

"I-I'm supposed to be dead," said Edward, "It's a long story, I'll explain it to you later."

"I want to hear it NOW," said General Mustang. Ed's lip quivered, like he wanted to cry, but of course, he couldn't. What was he to say? How could he get out of this situation?

"Dinner's ready!" hollered Pinako. Saved by the yell.

Roy stared at Edward a moment longer, and said, "Looks like you got out of telling me the story for now, Fullmetal, but that doesn't get you out of telling me later. Understand that?" Ed just nodded without saying anything. He was so glad just to be able to get out of it for now.

"Well?" said Roy, "Are you coming, Fullmetal?"

Ed shook his head. "I'm...not really hungry right now." Roy raised an eyebrow. He'd never known Ed to turn down food.

"Suit yourself," he said, then he turned to leave.

Edward sighed. He needed to get out of here, and fast. He pried open the window of their room and climbed out, carefully making his way down to the ground. If he could just get out without making a sound, maybe nobody would notice. Maybe nobody would suspect. Fat chance, but he'd try.

He had only walked a few steps when he suddenly heard a loud, booming voice shout, "EDWARD ELRIC! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!" followed by large, muscular arms being wrapped around him and squeezing him to death.

Apparently, Major Armstrong had stepped outside to get a breath of fresh air, and well, yeah, you get the picture. "Please, Major, let me go, you're gonna hurt me!" pleaded Edward. The big man just cried and sniffed and tightened his grip even harder.

Edward started worrying. Some of the doors on some of his hatches were about to pop open. Any tighter and...POP! There went the first hatch. Pop! Pop! Pop! Great, that was just great.

What made it even worse was that all the noise Major Armstrong was making had attracted the attention of some of the other military personnel that were still in the house. It didn't take long for them to notice the open hatches.

"What the heck is going on here?" said Roy Mustang. "Is this some new form of auto-mail?"

"Of course it is!" said Edward, trying to pull away from everybody's prying hands.

"Yeah, but on your LEFT arm?" said Colonel Mustang, noticing one of the open hatches being right where he had mentioned.

Edward pressed his eyes tightly shut. He really wanted to be able to cry right then. He was so frustrated and upset. "Just leave me alone, will you?" he yelled to all those within hearing range.

"I don't think so, Fullmetal," said Roy Mustang, "Not until we get to the truth of the situation."

"What kind of truth do you need?" shouted Edward, "I've got auto-mail. You've always known I had auto-mail. Why should it be so surprising that I've got an upgrade?"

Roy Mustang reached his hand over to Edward to feel him. "I don't think that's auto-mail," he said. He started poking and prodding around Ed's body. "Your entire body feels different than it should. I don't think that this is even a human body. What is this, another example of a soul transmutation?"

Edward gasped. How could Roy jump to such a conclusion so quickly? Roy chuckled. "Now I see why you didn't want to eat and why you were trying to hide. Don't forget, I have strong instincts. You can't hide something like this from me for very long, you know."

Ed sighed and dropped his head. He tried to cry once again, but couldn't. This frustrated him so much that he lifted his head and tried to punch somebody, whoever was nearest. But Roy caught his arm. "Now, now, Ed, we mustn't be going ballistic just because your secret was discovered."

"I NEVER SAID THAT WHAT YOU SAID WAS TRUE!" shouted Edward.

"But you never denied it either," said Mustang, "That pretty well convinces me that what I said was accurate."

Ed let out something that sounded kind of like a combination of a scream and a growl between his clenched teeth, and he turned to try and run, but he'd forgotten that Roy still had a grip on his arm, and so he was jerked back to where he had been.

"Oh, we can't let you go NOW," said Roy, "Imagine how valuable you are to us now that you are made entirely out of metal. Now you're REALLY the Fullmetal Alchemist!" he joked.

Ed jerked his hand out of Roy's grip. "Maybe the Fullmetal part is true," he said, "But I can no longer perform alchemy."

"You said WHAT?" said Roy, in shock.

"Just as I said, I can't do alchemy anymore," said Edward.

"But Al could still perform alchemy when he was in that suit of armor," said Roy. "Why would you not be able to do it in this...what is it...android body?"

"I don't know," said Ed, "But whatever the case is, I can't do alchemy. Sorry." He turned and left, leaving everyone there staring at each other.

"So, Fullmetal is an android now, is he?" said General Mustang to Winry and Al as they seated themselves back in the Rockbells' living room. Winry gasped and looked down at the floor. She clenched her hands and tried to fight back tears, unsuccessfully. "Why didn't you tell us?" Roy prodded.

"I...I was worried for Ed's safety," Winry sputtered out.

"Why were you so concerned?" asked General Mustang. "We kept your secret when it was Al who was in that state."

Winry buried her face in her hands and started sobbing. "Yes, but Ed was the Fullmetal Alchemist. He was too valuable to lose, so you couldn't allow anything to happen to his brother. Now that he can't do alchemy, I wasn't sure what to expect."

"That does pose a problem," said General Mustang. "If this should get out, he will be in real trouble."

"That's precisely why we didn't want anyone to know!" cried Winry.

"We'll do everything in our power to keep this from slipping out," said General Mustang. "We care about Ed just as much as you do."

Winry just continued to sob. Al sighed. Roy spoke up. "So, where do you think he went off to?"

"If I know Brother like I think I do," replied Al, "He probably went to Mom's grave. I think that's where he went earlier today too."

"Why would he have gone to your mother's grave?" asked General Mustang.

Al sighed. "I don't know, really. I think...I almost think that he was kind of looking forward to dying. But I...interrupted that...and now he's pretty bummed out. So I think that he keeps visiting Mom and talking to her."

"I see," said Roy, thoughtfully. "I'm really sorry to hear that. Why do you think Fullmetal would want to be dead?"

Al shook his head. "I don't actually know. Perhaps it was just his time...and...I interfered with that. Hence, his miserableness."

"So, tell me again why you interfered in the first place," said Mustang. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pry into your personal affairs, but I would like to know."

"I understand, Colonel, uh, I mean, General," said Al, "I just wasn't ready to let Brother go. And so, we worked together. Winry built him an android body, and I bound his soul to it. I thought that he would prefer that over death, but now I'm starting to think otherwise. He's taking it really, really hard."

Roy said nothing for a moment, while he looked deep in thought. "So, why do you think he can't do alchemy in this body?" he finally said.

Winry clenched her fists even tighter. Al coughed. "I'm...just guessing here..." said Al, "But it might have something to do with all the electrical wires and stuff running through him. Maybe that interferes with it."

"So, couldn't you just remove all those wires and stuff and have him be able to perform alchemy like you were able to in your armor body?" said General Mustang.

"Perhaps," said Al, "But then he would lose a lot of the things that Winry managed to give him. I'm not sure if he'd be willing to give that up. He can feel and breathe and pretty much act like a normal human being, except for a few things. When I was in that suit of armor, I would have given up anything to get what he has, even my ability to do alchemy. I'm not so sure he would want to give those things up."

"Have you asked him what HE wants?" said General Mustang.

Al shook his head. "He hasn't even said anything about having the desire to perform alchemy in the least little bit. I honestly haven't a clue WHAT he wants these days."

Roy sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Well, just ask him as soon as you can. Try and see what he wants. We can try and provide some of it, at least."

Al nodded. "I'll try."

General Mustang stood up. "Good. Now let's go and try and find Ed."

Everyone in the house stood up and left the house with one mission in mind: to find Ed and bring him back before anything worse happened to him.

**_Hope you liked the chapter. Now review, and I'm sure that Sakura-chan will be happy to update. Pwetty pwease with sugar on top? (Look at what you've reduced me to! I'm begging like a widdo bitty kid! Hehehe.) Pwease weview!_**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer...

Ed: Neither Mel-san nor Sakura-san own us.

Sak: How could you say that?

Ed: Quite easily, actually.

Al: Uh, brother, I think you should move.

Ed: Why?

Al: Sakura-san looks angry.

Ed: So?

Sak: (pulls out a water gun filled with milk) Dance you shrimp! DANCE!

(fires rapidly)

Ed: Noo! Oh and WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULD DROWND IN A MILK

DROP? (Runs away)

Sak: You won't get away that easily! (Chases Ed)

Al: Enjoy the chapter while I go watch brother get hit with milk!

Edward didn't want anyone to see him right now. He sat in front of his mother's grave in calm silence. Edward knew that they'd be here soon.

But he wanted to be able to spend some time with mom. Off in the distance he heard people calling for him. If Edward knew his brother well enough then he was sure Al knew where he was. He stood, brushed his pants off, and bid his goodbye.

"Sorry that I can't stay longer. I need to go. If I can, I'll be back."

Edward assured the grave solemnly. He started walking back down to the dirt path. They'd be at the cemetery soon and Edward didn't want to be around. He just wanted to be alone for awhile before coming back to the Rockbell's. He still wanted to go back.

"Brother, are you here?" Al asked as he looked behind a tombstone.

Havoc walked in-between and around graves.

"Which way's your mom?"

"Hmm? To the left." Al said, standing up and walking over towards where

Edward should have been.

"He's not here?" Havoc sighed and surveyed the cemetery again. Al frowned worriedly. Where else could he have gone? Suddenly, while gazing around, the obvious hit him.

"He might have gone to our house!" Al declared and grabbed Havoc's sleeve. He jerked him forward with such force that Havoc was having trouble trying not to fall. They ran down the dirt path towards Edward and Alphonse's old home.

Mustang, Winry, and Armstrong walked through the small shopping area of Resembool. They weren't having much luck either.

"Why would he run off to a store?" Mustang grumbled while looking back and forth. There were women stationed outside a clothing store, grabbing at clothing, and chatting away. Out side a General Store sat two old men playing chess with a small group of viewers. Horses traveled up and down the dirt road they were on, carrying various contents, and pulling wagons from shop to shop. There were metal shops with shows of their work hanging out from the roof and markets bustling with food.

Mustang glanced up at the crying Armstrong, who had sparkles floating about, and then back down at a determined Winry. Without looking at the General she replied, "I don't think he's at a store."

Armstrong looked down at her and asked, surprised, "Then why are we here?"

"If you don't think he'd come here then why are we searching here?"

Mustang inquired, eyebrow raised, and arms folded. Winry sighed and walked faster. The two picked up speed and walked on either side of her. "Why are we here?" Mustang asked, this time with more authority.

Winry frowned, making sure that her voice was under control she stated,

"I think he might be getting on a train."

"What? But where would he go?" Mustang nearly shouted.

"I don't know..." Winry whimpered.

"He never struck me as the type that would run." Armstrong said to himself before turning and blocking their way. Mustang stopped and stared at Armstrong, who was shading them from the sun. Winry was the first to speak.

"What are you doing?" She asked hesitantly.

"This!" Armstrong proclaimed and picked them up, sat Mustang on his left and Winry on his right shoulder, turned towards the train station and ran. All the way Winry and Mustang screamed and screamed while holding on for dear life. All any viewer could do was stop and stare or walk on acting like nothing had happened.

"Where do you think Fullmetal went?" Riza asked while watching from the window in the living room. Pinako sat smoking her pipe. She looked up at the soldier and said, "If we don't find him tonight he'll still come back." Pinako took another smoke on her pipe. Riza frowned and muttered loud enough for Pinako to barely hear,

"What if... What if he doesn't?" Hawkeye gripped the curtain tighter and watched from a distance Havoc and Al slow down and stop by a large tree. She was worried about that boy's safety. Pinako smiled grimly and replied in a calm voice,

"He's not a child anymore. He's growing up. Like I've told Winry, everyone must walk their own path. If his is to run away and come back four years later, then so be it. One day he'll come back." Hawkeye turned to the old woman, sitting on a couch, smoking, who had a faroff look in her eyes. Then Pinako added in a low voice, "They always have."

That was true. Riza knew that but she was still worried. What would

Edward do if he didn't come back?

"Are you done catching your breath?" Al huffed down at Havoc. Havoc grinned glumly at his cigarette,

"These things slow me down so much." With that he stood up, dropped his cigarette, and stepped on it. Al sweatdropped as Havoc took out a lighter and another cigarette.

"WOULD YOU HURRY UP?" Al grabbed Havoc and started dragging him. Havoc tried to get free so that he could go grab his fallen lighter and cigarette.

"Let me grab my stuff at least!" Havoc whimpered quickly. Al frowned and let him go. Havoc went to retrieve his stuff.

"Can we go now?"

"Sure, sure, just let me light this."

"HAVOC!"

"Here we are!" Armstrong placed both Winry and Mustang, who both felt like jelly, on the hard stone floor. Armstrong cleared his throat and cried out, "EDWARD ELRIC! WE HAVE COME FOR YOU!"

"Oh, that'll help a bunch." Mustang mumbled before walking off to look for the true Fullmetal. Winry made her way to her feet and hobbled over to the ticket booth.

"Excuse me sir." She said to the man behind the glass. He looked up from his newspaper.

"Oh, Winry! Are you leaving again?" He asked in a happy tone. Winry shook her head.

"No, we're looking for Edward. Have you seen him?" Winry hoped he had so they could take Edward back home. The man sat in thought for a moment. Then he sighed,

"Sorry Winry, I just started reading not even five minutes ago. I haven't seen Edward since he came down last. That was a while ago too." He apologized to the saddening girl. He quickly tried to make her feel better, "If I do see him I'll make sure he goes straight to your place, okay?" Winry half smiled and said that would be fine. She walked back to the place where she had left Armstrong. Neither him nor Mustang were here.

"Oh no..." Winry sweatdropped in dispair. Now she was looking for three people! Luckily Mustang and Armstrong were on the trains looking.

"Nice place you got here..." Havoc joked. Al smiled and said they burned their house down when they left to join the military. So that they had nothing to return to.

"I really thought Ed would be here." Al said, his shoulders sagged and he stared at his feet. Winry had gone with Mustang and Armstrong to town so where else could he go? Al thought for a few minutes before Havoc spoke up,

"Are there any places that Fullmetal and you used to go to? Any place with good memories he'd want to go to?" That jerked Al back into reality. He looked over the burned remains of home and said,

"There may be one other place. Maybe two." Al started walking down the hill his 'house' was on.

"Where is that?" Havoc asked while he jogged to catch up. Al didn't look at Havoc but did reply,

"Just follow me." With that Al broke into a run.

"C-can you at least tell me why he'd go there?"

"One," Al said trudging down to the dirt road, "would be the river where we met teacher."

"Uh huh, and the other place?"

"Two, maybe where we used to train. When I was in armor and Ed just got his auto-mail we trained by the lake... He might be in the surrounding forest as well." They ran on the dirt path for almost 5 minutes straight, much to Havoc's disproval, and came to a stop so they could catch their breath. They could still see the burned down house off in the distance. Resembool was really spread out. Havoc and Al were now by a small clump of farm houses that owned and farmed the surrounding country side.

"Why are we out here?" Havoc complained while taking deep breaths. Al said that the river wasn't far from these houses.

"Alphonse? Is that you?" A someone asked excitedly. Al and Havoc looked up. A girl carrying a bucket was running carefully down towards them from the houses. It was Miranda, the girl Ed had saved.

"Oh, Miranda are you alright?" Al asked after catching his breath. She smiled warmly and said that all she had were some scratches from the fall she took when Edward saved her.

"Glad you're well. Have you seen Edward today?" Al asked promptly after she was done speaking. She thought for a moment before saying,

"Is Edward a robot?" Al and Havoc glanced at each other before yelling,

"Of course not!"

"Okay then, yes I have seen him.." Miranda smiled and Al and Havoc asked where. "He came walking by earlier. I asked him where he was going and he said he wanted to go down to the river to think." Al grabbed her hands and said,

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" He then grabbed Havoc and they proceeded to run, again. Miranda walked back up to her tall blue house, making sure not to drop the water bucket. She set the bucket on the porch and then ran to the back of the house. Miranda kneeled in her farm clothes and unlocked the hatch to the basement. She glanced around before opening the door. She stepped down the stairs and into the musty dark room.

"Hey, Fullmini's missing." Miranda barked out at the figures in the room. "And I was right. He isn't human anymore. You should of been at that crash."

"Hm, you were right and it'll never happen again." Said a woman lazily.

"Shut up Sloth." Miranda glared. She then smirked and walked over to the corner of the room where a girl that looked exactly like Miranda lay, bound with rope, crying with a cloth over her mouth.

"Can I eat her?" Gluttony asked hungrily. Miranda, the one that was not a hostage, yelled over her shoulder,

"Wait till I'm done talking you pig!" This made the hostage cringe and try to scream. "Look you, your body is perfect for getting around. So much that I'll take your role. Don't worry, no one will miss you." She then smirked, showing her teeth and said, "Thanks." Miranda stood up and made her way over to Sloth, leaving the path open for Gluttony.

"Now that we know that boy isn't human what'll we do?" Sloth asked while leaning against the tool table. Miranda put her hands on her hips and transformed back into Envy. Envy looked over at Lust.

"What was our plan?" He asked over the sounds of Gluttony's little, helpless snack. Lust picked up a wrench and said,

"Fullmetal died apparently so he must have been at the gate. Perhaps he knows more now. Either way I want you," She threw the wrench at Envy, who caught it, and continued, "To pretend to be that Rockbell girl and figure out what he is."

"Can I kill him?" Envy asked like a child wanting candy. Sloth and Lust glared.

"No." They confirmed harshly. Envy frowned,

"Fine, be that way. You two are no fun. Gluttony has no brains and that guy," Envy glanced over at Wrath, who was sleeping on a tire, "Is useless."

"Just go!" Lust demanded while lengthening her nails. Envy rolled his eyes, transformed into Winry, and called out some nasty language while walking up the stairs.

"Make sure you find him before anyone else does." Sloth called.

"Whatever..." Was the irritated reply.

Luckily Envy didn't even know where Edward was. No one did.

**_Wow! That was quite a curveball! Heh, but I'm a pretty good hitter! Make sure to come back soon for my next update, because I've got quite a curveball planned too!_**

**_Hope you liked it, now review! Please!_**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Okay, sorry that it took me awhile to upload this chapter. I've had a lot of unexpected things occur in the past few days, hehe. Hope you like it, anyway. It's not as long as I wanted it to be, but hopefully it's long enough to be interesting. Hope you're a good hitter, Sakura-chan, because this is quite the curveball!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, but I can no longer say that I don't own FullMetal Alchemist merchandise! W00t! I bought a couple keychains from Hot Topic today. True, they may not be MUCH, but they're SOMETHING! W00tness to the max!_**

Edward sat himself down by the riverbank, placed his head in his hands, and sighed. Why couldn't things just be the way they were? Why did he have this strong urge to run? He was even running from his own brother…Why?

Then he realized he was trying to run to keep from hurting him any worse. Maybe he should just leave for good. Maybe they would hurt less if he were gone. Maybe they didn't even want him around, but they pretended they did. These thoughts plagued him.

Ed knew that Al would find him in a few minutes if he stayed around here, but he decided not to worry about it for the time being, and he lay back and closed his eyes. Even though he couldn't sleep, he could still get into that trance state that one naturally enters when they go into sleep that allows one to have dreams. Entering that trance state helped his mind to relax and refresh itself.

So, he allowed himself to enter that sleep-like state. No more than five minutes after he had started doing so, he woke up with a start. He had had THAT dream again. How he hated THAT dream. It had plagued him since his childhood, and it never left him alone. It was strange now though, it seemed like that dream had almost been prophetic.

When he had been a child, he had had a dream of becoming a robot, and that dream had never left him alone. It was constantly reoccurring ever since then. He wondered if there really was more to that dream than met the eye. He stood up, dusted his pants off, and started walking along the river, thinking, and musing to himself.

His mother had always given him these somewhat cryptic messages of encouragement regarding that dream. He never understood why, and he could never make sense of the messages of encouragement she would give him regarding the dream, but she would basically just tell him to memorize what she was saying, and that it would make sense to him later.

He really wished he could talk to her now. He really needed her advice. She was the only one who would understand, the only one who could give him any council as to what to do. He brought his clenched fists up to his face and clamped his eyes shut as if to try and cry. He shivered, and then he practically yelled, "Mother, is there any way I can talk with you, at all?"

Just then, he felt a tugging at his chest, a very strange sensation, of separation. But of separation of what? He put his hands to his chest, to try and stop the feeling, but it wouldn't stop. It continued. What was happening? The feeling continued and increased until finally, he got dizzy and completely lost consciousness.

"Brother! Brother, are you alright?" shouted Al, shaking Ed awake. Ed opened his eyes, gasped, and tried to run away, but Al caught him by the ankle and tripped him, to keep him from running off.

"Brother, why are you running from us? We are not going to hurt you," said Al.

"Don't call me 'Brother'!" said Ed, "Al is my brother, not you!"

Al looked confused. "I AM Al! What's the matter, Ed?"

Ed turned and looked at him. "What are you talking about? You're not Al. Al is about my age. A little younger, yes, but close to my age. You're fully grown up."

Al coughed nervously and said, "Well…so are you."

Ed looked down at his hands and jumped back in surprise. "I…what…how…?" He couldn't seem to find words to express himself. He was really confused. "How did I get this body? How did I grow up? I don't remember anything about this! What's going on?"

Al leaned closer to Ed. "Brother? What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've lost your memories."

Ed looked up at Al. He looked like he was about to cry, supposing he could, since he was an android. He just clenched his eyes closed tightly, and didn't say a word. "What's the last thing you remember, Brother, before you woke up?" said Al.

Ed thought for a moment, and then he said, "Mom had just tucked both me and…you…into bed. That was on the day of our first transmutation."

"The day of our first transmutation?" said Al, "That was years ago! You don't remember anything since then?" Ed shook his head. "What could have possibly happened?" said Al.

Ed shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, something hit Al really hard.

--Flashback--

"Al, something really weird is going to happen in our future."

"What's that, Brother?" asked Al.

"I'm going to become a robot!" said Ed.

Al had just laughed at the time. He wasn't laughing now.

"No, seriously," said Ed, "That dream was too real, I just know it!"

Maybe that wasn't a dream, thought Al, maybe his brother had really traveled through time. Maybe this Ed was the Ed from years ago. But what had happened to the Ed from the present?

"Edward, time to get up!" called a woman, cheerily. Edward opened his eyes, and looked around. Where was he? This was really weird. Wait, he knew this place! This was his and Al's old bedroom back at his house before they had burned it down. What was he doing here? How did he get here?

Edward sat up in bed and looked around, not bothering to get out of bed. He was too shocked to move. After a moment, the woman who had called came into the room. "Edward? Aren't you going to get out of bed?" she asked.

"M-Mom?" Edward said as he looked over at the woman. He couldn't believe he was actually seeing her with his own eyes.

"Yes, sweetheart?" she answered.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Well, why don't you pinch yourself and find out?"

Edward did so. He pinched himself very hard, and it hurt badly. This was no dream.

**_Did you like that chapter? I hope so. Hope you're able to write for that, Sakura-chan. I can't wait to see what you do with this, hehe. Hopefully, it'll be an interesting challenge for you. Anyway, please review, everyone, and she might consider updating sooner!_**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Wow, Sakura-chan managed to hit my curveball, and she hit it really well! She's an even better writer than I thought! I thought that it would take her awhile to write for this one, but nope, she surprised even me! Hehe. Boy, she's good, hehe. Hmmm...wonder who's going to hit the next curveball? Well, we never plan on curveballs, so who knows? Whenever one of us gets hit with an idea, I guess. I had actually been planning on making that time travel idea be a oneshot, but I figured, "Hey, what the heck, why not use it in my story?" So, yeah, the rest, asthey say, is history._**

**_Disclaimer: I'm probably going to be talking really stupidly in my author notes, because I'm tired, high on caffiene and suffering from withdrawal, and the moon is about to enter Gemini. Wait, what? (Listens to Sakura-chan talk to me) Oh...oops. I wasn't supposed to issue THAT disclaimer here. I'm supposed to say that we don't own FullMetal Alchemist, but you already knew that, didn't you?_**

Ed sat on a chair in front of the kitchen table staring at his oatmeal.

Al was sitting in the chair next to him eating his. Ed fumbled with the spoon. He could eat now and yet he didn't want to. His mom, who was sitting across from him, spoke up,

"Are you feeling okay, honey? You haven't touched your food." She sounded worried. Ed tried but couldn't restrain the sob. Al watched, spoon hanging half way out of his mouth, and patted his brother's back. Trisha stood up and went over to Ed. "What's my big man crying about?" She cooed softly. Ed wanted to tell her so many things but couldn't because of the choking sensation in his throat.

"Big brother, are you alright?" Al asked shyly while putting his spoon back in its bowl and leaning over to Ed. He managed to calm down and say he wasn't feeling good. Trisha placed her soft hand on his head to see if he was warm.

"Mom, please don't go..." Ed cried into her chest. The rest of his words were muffled.

"I'm not going anywhere sweetie." She replied in her motherly tone. Ed bit his lip and could only think of how wrong she was. "Did you have a bad dream?" A dream? Could his entire adventure with Al to regain their bodies have been a dream?

"I don't know." Ed mumbled.

When Ed had calmed down completely and finished his breakfast he was outside with Al. Ed was in the lead. Al only followed because Ed wouldn't tell him where they were going. Before long Al could see their destination, the cemetery.

"Brother, what are we doing HERE?" Al whimpered as he followed his brother. Ed didn't respond. They didn't stop till Ed froze by an empty space.

"It's not here!" Ed said in an almost relieved voice. He stared, wide eye, at the lush green grass that was growing in this spot. His already large golden eyes widened even more.

"What isn't here?"

"Nothing..." Ed turned, a nervous smile on his face, and began to run home. Al shrugged and began to follow his brother hastily.

A dream... It must have all been a dream.

Al, the fully grown one, stared at his brother in awe. Was this actually happening? Maybe something had disfunctioned inside Edward's body.

Without a word Al grabbed his brother's arm, Edward yelping at the sudden movement, and tightened his grip so that a door opened.

"AH! WHAT IS THAT?" Edward asked and sounded scared out of his mind. He watched in fear as Al shut the door and had an apologetic look plaster itself on his face.

"Sorry," He said and scratched the back of his head, "Wrong opening."

Havoc, who just so happened to be there the entire time, sighed,

"Don't scare him like that..." Edward, who was out of Al's grip now, rubbed his hand up and down his left arm. He looked amazed and confused at the same time. He looked up with a child's curiosity in his eyes and asked,

"Do I have auto-mail?" He, the child Ed, had seen it before when over at Winry's. Her granny and parents were working with it. Al and Havoc exchanged glances.

"Let's take you home and we'll tell you there." Al supplied after a minute or two of thinking. Edward smiled and stood up. He brushed of his pants and mused,

"Okay, I bet mom is wondering where I've been."

"Brother, aren't you going to read too?" Al, two books in hand, asked dumbfounded when his brother didn't want to read with him. "Mom said it would be okay." Ed wondered if he could still do alchemy without a circle. That would be the only way to tell if it had all been a dream or not.

"I'm going to practice alchemy instead." Ed told Al, trying to hide how nervous he really was. Al asked if he could too. "Sure you can. We'll need all the practice we can get."

Al went to fetch the book they traced circles from. They'd only done it once and didn't know how to draw them perfectly yet.

But when Al came back into the room their dad had used Ed was gone. "Brother? Where are you?" He poked his head out the door and looked down the hall. Where was he? Al trotted to the left and into the kitchen. Ed was sitting at the counter with his mom watching.

"There you are!" Trisha greeted Al. He went over to the table and noticed Ed didn't have a circle.

"Brother, you forgot the circle." He said slowly. Ed's smile faded into a frown. Al watched his brother gently grab a broken dish that his mom had set on the table. Both brother and mother watched as Ed clapped his hands and set them at the edge of the dish.

A magical feeling spread from the center of Ed into the tips of his fingers. It felt like he hadn't done this in years. The light swirled and twisted around the broken dish. The light broke down the matter and then reconstructed it back into one whole. Slowly the magic feeling left Ed and the light faded into nothing. There sat the plate, with finely decorated sides, a perfect shine, and a wonderfully curved outline. It looked better then ever.

"How d-did you do that?" Al stuttered, mouth agape, and looked from the dish to his brother. Ed was looking at his hands like he wanted to cry.

It wasn't a dream.

"Winry!" Edward squealed and gave her a bare hug. Al, Havoc, Pinako, and Riza stared at the two. Winry was rigid and blushing. Edward had a big, bright smile and a childish air about him.

"Edward, you're back..." She commented awkwardly before gazing over at a sweatdropping Al. Winry gave him a 'what the heck is going on?' glare.

"Brother I think we should go inside now." Al laughed cheesily. Edward let go of Winry and gave a little pout directed at his brother.

"I'm still older, aren't I?" He frowned and crossed his arms. Pinako said she was going to finish making supper and went inside.

"What does he mean?" Riza asked unsure as to what to expect. Whatever she had in mind it surely wasn't what Edward did next. He looked at her, just noticing she was there, and gave a goofy grin from ear to ear. He trotted away from Winry and over to Hawkeye. She raised an eyebrow at him. Then Edward said in an embarrassed giggle,

"You're pretty, I like you."

The next thing anyone knew there was the sound of a gun going off.

"What was that?" Armstrong inquired out loud while on the way back to the Rockbell's. Mustang placed his hand under his chin in a thinking position. Then he said seriously,

"Judging from the sound of distance, the placement of the sun, and the screams coming from a certain android, I say Hawkeye just happened to shoot at Fullmetal on his return home." Winry sighed at the stupidity.

She was walking on the left side of Armstrong, Mustang on the right, back home after a stressful day of searching.

"Anyone have a wrench?" She asked evilly. Mustang stepped away a bit and Armstrong did as well. They continued to walk back home. Hoping Edward was in one piece.

"That's amazing Eddie!" Trisha exclaimed while happily placing the newly fixed dish in her china cupboard. Ed looked at his feet sadly. He didn't think it was amazing. The only reason he could do it was because his beautiful mother was going to die. Al, who was asking left and right for Ed to teach him, came up to his brother and tapped his shoulder.

"Edward, want to-"

"No, I'm not going to teach you!"

"I wasn't-"

"Stop asking!"

"No!" Ed huffed out angrily and turned away from Al and crossed his arms. Trisha scolded Ed and told him not to yell at his little brother. He was instantly silenced.

"Hello Mrs. Elric!" A delighted voice came from the door way.

Trisha looked up to see Winry, the child one, come inside. Ed and Al also saw her. Ed wanted to cry and Al wanted to be beaming sunlight, but neither boy could.

"Winry, you came over?" Al said meekly and bit his lip, looking away from her blue eyes. He shuffled his hands behind his back and muttered softly, "I thought you didn't like us anymore..."

"No, you two are still my best friends." Winry reassured, "I'm so sorry for being mean." She clutched her yellow floral dress with one hand and with the other showed the doll she was holding. Ed let out a small gasp. Winry looked over at him. "Thank you for the gift. I like it." She cuddled it with mournful eyes.

"I know." Ed said in return. His mind wandered to the doll that sat on Winry's bed in front of her pillows in her room. "I'm glad you like it."

He sounded sad but either no one noticed or they didn't care.

"You two want to play?" Winry asked shyly. Al answered for both of them. Before Ed could grasp the situation he was being dragged outside.

"Ed, catch this!" Al called as he passed a red ball at him. Ed caught it with ease. It was unusual for a child to be as coordinated as he was right now, but since he was really much, much older it was only surprising to Al and Winry.

"Wow, you've gotten really, really good!" Winry smiled at Ed. He didn't respond and only threw the ball at Winry. She caught it, stumbling a bit on the slick grass, but managed to stand. All of a sudden a girl with short, brown hair and eyes ran off the dirt road and over to them. It was Miranda.

"Winry, Ed, Al, can I play?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure." Al said politely. Miranda turned in her overalls to look at an older man walking mules on the road.

"I'll come home later, okay papa?" Miranda called. Her papa nodded and told her to be back before sunset. She turned back to the three and they began playing.

While Ed was running to catch a ball Miranda had kicked he suddenly felt dizzy. He stumbled, fell, and lay on the grass. He could hear, as though far, far away, the worried screams of Al, Winry, and Miranda. Things became harder and harder to see. And, before he knew it, all was black.

**_Did you like it? Huh? Huh? Did ya? (See disclaimer. Read it more than once if you didn't catch it the first time. My stupidity is going overboard today, and I can't seem to control it. Sigh. Just a cross I have to bear, I guess. Yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda...Ooh, I'm going nuts! What am I talking about? Yes, believe it or not, I get this way sometimes. I wonder if I'm going to be embarrassed when I come back to this section later and read what I just wrote? This isn't as stupid as I sometimes get. You should see what I wrote to one of my readers in a PM just a few minutes ago. Poor girl! HEHEHE)_**

**_So, anyway, if you liked it, please review, and I'll make sure to update sooner. She did a great job, didn't she?_**

**_And yes, before you ask, I know that I haven't updated anything for the past couple days. I'm SORRY! Things have been complicated in my life lately. Anyway, I do have a bunch of things written up, I just have to type them up. It depends on when I get the chance to type them up. I actually have new chapters for "The Zodiac People" and "Me, Myself, and I". (Yes, you read that right. A NEW CHAPTER! W00t! When will I type it up, I wonder? Soon I hope.) I also have one for "Across Time and Space", another drabble for "The Customer From Heck", and a little oneshot called "Thoughts in the Rain"._**

**_Heh, yeah, I don't know when I'll get all those typed up, but I'm pretty sure that "Thoughts in the Rain" will at least get uploaded within a few minutes. Heck, it's already partly typed up. So, yeah. It's a sad little story that I wrote up while walking through the rain one day._**

**_Yikes! These author notes are SO LONG! Gomen Nasai! I'll stop. It's the coffee, I swear!_**

**_Please review!_**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Thank you so much, you faithful reviewers, you? (Dances happy little dance) Sakura-chan, you're a really good hitter, even when I throw a curveball. Tell me though, were you trying to end the time traveling already, or did you have something else planned? Oh well, this is my chapter now, and I managed to hit that curveball pretty well, I think. I'm not half done with the time travel bit! Hehehe...hope you all enjoy._**

**_Disclaimer: Neither one of us owns FullMetal Alchemist. Snore...(slight caffiene buzz, though the coffee's wearing out this time)...zzzzzzzz...what? Yeah, I'm awake, what did you say? Uhhh...we don't own FMA...what? I already said that? Oh. zzzzzzzzzz..._**

Ed found himself standing before a gigantic door. He knew that door. This was the Gate. He'd been here before. But what was he doing here now?

He watched as the gigantic doors swung open. Surprisingly enough, he didn't feel anything trying to pull him in. He just stood there, watching. As incredible as it sounded, he seemed to be able to look through and see all the way to the other side. What he saw on the other side though made him jump. It was himself, staring back at him. What was going on?

The person on the other side of the Gate jumped, and said, "Who are you?"

"I'm, uh, I'm...Edward," said Edward. "Who are you?" He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but still wanted to hear it with his own ears.

"Uh, I'm Edward too," said the other boy. Edward sighed and scratched his head, then realized that he was still in this young body. He looked again at the other figure before him, who looked much more mature, and yet acted more frightened, like a child. Ed started to realize what had just happened.

"We switched bodies, didn't we?" he said. The other Edward didn't appear to know what he was talking about, but he nodded his head anyway. The older Edward sighed. "So how do we get back to our original bodies?" he said out loud, kind of annoyed, not expecting an answer.

"I don't know!" screamed the younger Edward, as if he was going to cry, though he obviously couldn't, since he was in an android body. The older Edward placed his hand down by his side and looked up to see the younger Edward.

"I wouldn't worry so much about it if I were you. We are really the same person, though from different times. I'm you as an older person, hence that means that I was you at one time. I know that that may not make sense to you right now. It barely makes sense to me, but that also means that we somehow manage to switch back. So relax, everything will work out, somehow. I just don't know how yet."

The younger Edward just nodded. Younger Ed still seemed to be a bit afraid, though older Ed tried to console him a bit. "Please, don't worry, somehow this will work out, I promise you." That was weird; it felt like he was talking to himself. Well, he was, technically, it was just a very much younger version of himself.

Older Ed reached out his hand in the direction of younger Ed. He felt a strong current of energy run through it that almost pulled him into the Gate. He quickly jerked his hand back, and looked up at the younger version of himself.

"Listen," he said, "I think that I was pulled into this body because there is something that I very much need to do. Perhaps once I fulfill that mission, maybe we'll switch back."

"Equivalent trade..." mused the younger Ed.

The older Ed popped open his eyes and looked up at him. "What?"

"Equivalent trade..." repeated the younger Ed. "I had just been wishing that I could know something about my future. Both of our wants must've made us switch places."

Older Ed gasped. He'd forgotten all about that desire to know the future when he was little. "Perhaps..." said older Ed. "Perhaps, once we fulfill our missions, we'll be returned to our respective bodies. Equivalent trade, like you said."

Just then, the massive doors slammed shut, and older Ed felt himself being pulled backwards, back into the blackness he had been in just before he had found himself in front of the Gate. Back to where he had been.

"Brother! Ed! Are you alright?" Ed opened his eyes to find three small children standing over him with concerned expressions on their faces. Al, Winry, and Miranda were still looking over him, very concerned.

He cautiously sat up and rubbed his head. "I'm fine, guys. I just...spaced out a little."

"Should I go get Mom?" asked Al.

"No!" Ed said, putting out his hand before he was able to think. "Uh...on second thought," he sputtered out, after thinking for a moment, "I think I'll go and see her myself. You guys continue playing. I'm fine." Al gave Ed a worried glance, but then went back to playing with Winry and Miranda.

Ed stood up and walked back towards the house. He was going to have to tell his mother what was going on. That was why he was here. How was she going to take it? How would she accept it? Would he have to tell her why he had to come back in time in order to talk to her? He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"What's wrong with Fullmetal?" cried Roy as he came running upon the scene. He had heard Ed's screams and Riza's shots, and had grown a bit concerned, wondering what was going on. Ed must've REALLY ticked her off.

"I don't exactly KNOW what's going on," said Al. "He said something to Lieutenant Hawkeye here, and it made her mad, so she fired a few shots in his general direction, and it scared him so bad that he passed out."

Roy thought about this for a moment. "That's strange for him to get so scared like that. That's very un-Ed-like."

Al scratched his head. "Um...well...not exactly," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" General Mustang asked.

"Um..." Al responded, not sure if he should explain it, not even sure if he COULD explain it. "Well...this is Ed...but it's not...OUR Ed. In a way he is...but...in a way he's not."

That definitely didn't seem to make much sense, so Roy asked for clarification. Al wasn't sure if he could give any, but he decided that he would just blow it full force on him, and just see what would happen. "Well..." started Al, "For some reason, the Ed of the present and the Ed of the past switched places. So, this is a very young version of my brother. That's why he said what he did to Lieutenant Hawkeye here. To him, it was a compliment, but she thought he was making a pass at her. So yeah, she kind of flipped out, and uh..." Al caught an electric glare coming from Riza, and decided to avoid explaining any further details.

General Mustang just chuckled and looked back at Al. "So, are you telling me that your brother has traveled through time?" said General Mustang. "Wouldn't that mess up the time/space continuum?"

Al rubbed his forehead, trying to think hard. Time travel sure did hurt the brain. "Uh...well...yes, and no," said Al. "You see...it's already happened...in a way...it's just that now...we've finally completed the loop. Brother has been talking about his experiences as the younger version for years...though I never took him seriously...and how that he's finally reached the part of the loop where he's the older version...well...uh..." he was really confused and couldn't get his words together.

Roy understood of course. It was a really hard subject to explain, even to comprehend. "Don't burden yourself too much with explanations, Alphonse," said Roy, putting up a hand. "I know that this is a difficult subject to try and discuss. Heck, if it were coming from anyone else, I wouldn't have believed the story, but your brother has surprised me so many times that nothing fazes me anymore." Al gave a nervous chuckle, and continued to rub his head.

Just then, Ed woke up. "Am I still here?" he asked.

"Yes, Fullmetal, you're still here," said Roy.

"What's...Fullmetal?" asked Ed. Roy smacked his head. He'd forgotten about the time travel bit.

"We'll explain it to you in a bit," said Al, turning to him. Ed looked around nervously.

"That mean lady isn't still here, is she?"

Riza blushed and put her gun back in its holster. "I'm sorry, Edward, I won't fire at you again. I thought that you were being rude. It was my mistake, I apologize."

Roy was about to reprimand her for calling a higher officer by his first name, but since this Edward was really the one from the past, he decided to let it go. Besides, even the Ed from the present didn't really like being called by his rank. He accepted being called by his name or his military name, and that was it. No ranks. Absolutely none. Maybe he just felt awkward about being a child that was above adults. Or maybe he just hated the military.

Yeah, that was probably it. He probably hated the military. No matter though, he was a very useful alchemist to have around, or at least, had been. He had helped them to straighten out several big issues that no one else could've done, because everyone else had too much common sense to even try. Some things could only be accomplished by someone who was both an idiot and a genius at the same time, and well, Ed was both.

Roy extended his hand towards Ed to help him up, "Come on...Ed..." he said, trying to remember not to call him by his military name, since he didn't respond to it, "Let's go into the house, and we'll explain things to you."

Ed took Roy's hand and stood up. He made his way to the house with the rest of the people, keeping a careful watch on Hawkeye, and making sure to always know where her gun was. Yep, he was going to need a lot of explanation. A lot of explanation indeed.

**_Okay, did you like that? I hope so. Please review, and I'm sure that Sakura-chan will be happy to update soon. (We update sooner when we get more reviews...or at least I do. I think she does too.) Longer reviews help to make up for lack of reviews sometimes too. Long reviews rule! W00t! (Yes, I know, I say "W00t!" a lot. It's a computer geek word that I learned from my brother a long time ago. I don't know why I say it. Heh. I just like to, hehehe.)_**

**_Please review, okay? Thanks! (smiles happily, anticipating reviews)_**


	12. Chapter 12

**_Hey, everyone! Thanks for the response to that last chapter. Here's Sakura-chan's chapter now. Hope that you all like it. I certainly did. Heh. I get to read her chapters before any of the rest of you do. Hehehe...yes, I know it's not fair, but it's cool! Hehehe...snicker snicker snicker._**

**_Disclaimer: We don't own FMA. I'm trying to come up with a witty remark to make, but my creativity got jammed on pause. Don't you just hate it when certain buttons quit working? Darn!_**

"Winry get the ham would you?" Pinako called from the oven. She carefully took out the freshly baked bread and set it on the table.

Winry, a scowl on her face, grabbed the ham. "Fine," Winry mumbled and quickly set the ham on the table. Pinako nearly screamed at the sight. "WINRY!" Pinako grabbed her wrists to look at her hands. The ham had just finished cooking and the metal pan had been very hot. Yet Pinako saw no burn marks. "You've been working with auto-mail for so long I think you've got some yourself!" Pinako mused and let go of her grandaughter's hands so they could clean up.

"Heh heh, I'll be more careful." Winry smiled and went over to the oven to grab some mitts. They continued preparing supper.

"I'm a WHAT?" Edward exclaimed when Al was done explaining all he knew.

Winry, who was sitting next to Edward on the couch said, "An android. You're soul is attached to this artificial body."

"I'm a robot?"

"For the most part, yes. You still have your mind and soul just not your body. I also gave you many features that a human possesses." Winry sounded proud of herself. Edward's mind swirled at this. What the heck? This made no sense.

Then he remembered the dream he had had earlier.

"So Full- er, I mean, Ed how old are you?" Roy asked on the couch across from the android. Edward sat in silence. He raised his fists in front of himself and slowly began to pull them up one by one. When he had the proper number out he counted again to make sure. He smiled brightly and popped his hand out so everyone could see.

"This many!" Everyone but Edward sweatdropped.

"So you're five?" Riza asked calmly. Edward stared and nodded. He wasn't to sure he could trust this lady.

"Hmm, seems his age finally matches his size." Roy chuckled to himself.

Edward's face darkened and he screamed,

"I'm not short you butthead!" He tried to jump but Al and Winry held him down. When he was done steaming he started to pout. But, as Al began to talk about what had happened to them so far, Edward's face softened into a frown. There was a silence, everyone watching Edward. His golden eyes looked up at Al with the most terrified and sorry look Al had ever seen.

"Mom's going to die?" Edward grabbed Al's sleeve and pulled on it harder and harder. "You're lying."

"...No, I wish I was." Al took his gaze off Edward. Those eyes dug into him to deep.

"Al, don't lie to your big brother!" Edward cried at him. Roy and Riza exchanged glances. Riza nodded. Roy turned to Havoc, who was sitting next to him, and whispered in his ear. Edward kept on accusing Al and Al kept on saying it was true. Havoc stood up and quietly left the room.

"But mom can't... can't leave!" Edward bawled. Winry rubbed his back to calm him. Edward couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't crying.

"Brother, I'm telling you the truth. I saw it. Mom isn't going to stay with us-"

"No..." Edward moaned and tightened his grip on Al's sleeve. Then when it looked like Edward was going to scream Havoc stuck something between the brothers.

"Huh?" The brothers said dumbly at the same time. The two stared at the item for a bit before Ed swiped it away from Havoc.

"You could say 'thank you'." Havoc grumbled as Edward smiled at the book.

"Alchemy!" He grinned from ear to ear. He wildly opened the book to the introduction and started reading.

"Easily amused." Roy chuckled as Edward was absorbed deeper and deeper into the writings.

"He's always been like that." Winry joked with an agreeing Al. Just then Pinako came into the room.

"Supper is ready!" She exclaimed and turned back for the kitchen. The occupants of the couches jumped up.

Pinako turned to where she expected Winry to be at the table. She wasn't there! Pinako watched as her guests filed in. They took their places at the table. Winry was the last one to the table.

Hadn't Winry just helped her set the soup down?

"Mom?" Ed asked cautiously. He peered into the kitchen from the open door. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he remembered the gate experience he had just had. Ed walked around the house until he found his mom sitting on her bed with her back to him. She was crying. Ed's stomach sank as he got closer to her. How would he tell her everything?

How would she take it? Before he knew it Ed was right behind his mom.

Ed gulped and whispered, "Mom?" Trisha spun around at gawked at her son.

She had dropped several letters in the process. Ed realized they were from his father.

"Oh, Edward, I didn't know-"

"We really need to talk." Ed said franticly while cutting her off mid sentence. His mom look surprised. Then a warm smile sat on her face, which Ed noticed had tear trails, and scooted the letters out of the way.

She then picked him up, Ed shocked at how easily she did this, and sat him on her lap. "So, what bothering my big man?" She cooed in his ear. Normally this would have calmed him but instead he felt worse. He felt tears start to burn his eyes.

"Mom, what would you do if I told you that I was a teenage state

alchemist... or was." Ed asked hesitantly. His mom looked a bit startled at this question. She asked what he meant. This would take some explaining, Ed knew. And he hoped she wouldn't take him lightly. Her life just might depend on it.

"No, don't do that!" Winry shrieked and grabbed the ham from Edward's mouth. He pouted and complained in a moody voice,

"Winry you are such a meanie!" She laughed a little at that. Edward reached out for the bread only to get slapped by Winry and Al. "What?" He cried, feeling like they wanted to starve him. He rubbed his hand and then tired to reach the corn. Slapped again. Potatoes? Nope. Soup?

Definitely not. Orange juice? Slap and no! By now Edward was very, very angry.

Why wouldn't they let him eat?

"You don't need to eat." Winry said sternly. Edward glared at her.

They locked glares while everyone but Al kept on eating.

"But I WANT to eat." Edward fumed. Winry sighed and told him once again he couldn't. "You aren't the boss of me!" Edward retorted harshly and went for the ham again.

"Brother, no!" Al grabbed Edward's outstretched arm and brought it back to him. "You can't eat. This body..." Al adverted his eyes from his brother's. "Your body can't eat."

"What do you...?" Edward gaped before turning his eyes and looking lustfully at supper. "What do you mean 'can't'?" He whined and slumped in his chair. It wasn't fair.

Outside the house Den was barking at a certain homunculus. Envy swiftly kicked the poor dog in the side, knocking him down.

"Stupid mutt doesn't know when to shut up." He spat angrily. He wasn't just mad at the dog but with the way things were going. He had pretended to be that Rockbell girl and listen in on the conversation but the real Winry had come in for supper. At least he, Envy concluded, had gotten some more info. He wasn't sure what this 'android' thing they were talking about was. What he did know what that something happened to make Edward act younger. Maybe even be younger than he really was.

Den stumbled to his paws with some difficulty and lunched himself at the homunculus. Envy grimaced and delivered a hefty blow to the dog.

Envy jumped off the porch, leaving a Den with shattered auto-mail.

Envy smirked. He had an idea. Edward didn't seem to know that his mom was gone. Maybe boring Sloth could be of some use. He decided to see if Sloth would mind paying Fullmetal a visit.

One that would most likely be Edward's last.

**_Awesomeness! That should be fun to respond to! Anyway, you all please review for her, and I'll make sure to update soon. The more reviews, the faster I'll get around to updating. Remember that. Heh! See you soon!_**


	13. Chapter 13

**_Finally, an update! Sorry about the wait, everyone. My week has been rather hectic lately (and it'll continue to be hectic if I don't get home and get to sleep fast! It's not even noon, and I'm going nuts from lack of sleep! Crazy...oh wait, I did stay up for more than twenty-four hours again, didn't I? That would explain that.)_**

**_Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this. I'm not sure how quickly I can update my stories from now on, because I need to start taking my sleep into account, which means that I can't schedule everything around the library. I'll do my best though._**

**_Disclaimer: We don't own FMA. I'm really tired, so if you want a wittysaying, come look another day, when I'm in one of my hyger moods, and I'll give you some very funny things to read. Heh._**

"What do you mean, 'you're a teenage state alchemist?' " asked Trisha.

Edward sighed. This was going to take a lot of explanation. He rubbed his hand over his forehead, and brushed his hair back.

"Well," he began, "You remember when I performed that transmutation without a circle, right?" Trisha nodded. "The only reason that I can do that is because I've been this thing called the Gate of Truth, and an alchemist will only ever see the Gate if something…major…occurs in their life. That…major…thing won't occur for several year." He didn't want to tell her about her imminent death if he could avoid it, unless he could find a way to prevent it.

"If that's so, then how did you get here?" Edward heard a tone of amusement in her voice. Apparently, she wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. Sigh. He'd figure something out. He had to.

"I don't know how I got here. I suppose it had something to do with my needing to talk with you so badly."

"Why couldn't you just talk to me in your time?" Edward stared down at the floor and refused to say a word. Trisha caught the expression. "I see. I'm no longer around in your time, am I?"

Edward clenched his eyes shut to try and hold back tears, but they squeezed past his eyelids anyway. It was strange that when he could cry, he didn't want to, but when he couldn't, he did.

"I hope that you wouldn't make something like that up just for the sake of doing so, Edward," said Trisha.

"Never!" shouted Edward, "I love you way too much, Mother, and I was hoping that you wouldn't even have to know about that unless I could find a way to prevent it from happening."

Trisha placed her hand under Edward's chin and made him look into her eyes. "Edward, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," he answered.

"That's old enough to know that you can't change fate. If I'm fated to die before you even grow up, then there's nothing that either of us can do about it."

"You believe in fate, Mom?" asked Edward.

"I'm surprised that you never realized that, Edward. Did you ever hear me talk about fate while you were growing up?"

Edward shook his head. "No, never. You might have changed your beliefs over the years."

Trisha sighed. "Perhaps, but I doubt it. Not only am I fated to die prematurely, but you were fated to switch places with your younger counterpart from this time. Since most of the time you can remember me occurred after this encounter, I probably just didn't say anything, since I didn't want to worry you."

Edward cast his eyes to the floor, but Trisha made him look at her again. "Now, tell me, what was it that you needed to see me about so badly that you traveled through time just to do so?"

Ed was stomping around Pinako's house in a huff. He had wanted to eat. That was so unfair of them not to have let him. Al grabbed him by the shoulder. "Brother, please calm down. You'll return to your own body soon enough, and then you'll be able to eat again."

Ed jerked his shoulder out of Al's hand and stuck his tongue out at Al. Al was a bit startled at this behavior, since he didn't remember Ed ever having been this childish. Then again, this Ed was only five.

"Uh, Brother," said Al, scratching his head awkwardly, "Maybe if you took a walk, you could work some of that tension off instead of directing it all at me."

Ed jerked his body so that he was facing away from Al, and then marched outside, slamming the door behind him just as Al reminded him to take Den with him.

"Who does he think he is?" muttered Ed to himself, "I'm still his older brother. He should let me do whatever I want. If he weren't bigger than me, I'd…" He clenched his fist and shook it. Naturally, he would never hurt Al, but he was still mad. "I'm going home!"

He walked back down the path that had connected the two houses. It was really only a worn out footpath, since they had always been traveling back and forth between the two houses, but a lot of weeds seemed to have crept into the path as of late. He couldn't figure why, since Al obviously still hung out at Auntie Pinako's, but it didn't really matter. He just stamped on the weeds, opening up the path again.

Finally, he arrived at where the house…was. He dropped to his knees in utter shock. What had happened to his house? Why was it just a pile of burnt wood?

"Oh! Edward! I was wondering where you had gone off to, you had me so worried!"

Ed spun around, and looked into the face of Sloth. "Mom! You ARE alive! I knew you weren't dead. I knew Al was lying to me!" He ran into her arms, and she stroked his hair soothingly.

"Sweetheart," she said, "That boy who calls himself Al isn't really your brother. He's just a mean man who keeps trying to hurt us. He's actually the one who burned down our house."

"Then where is my brother?"

"He killed him."

"No!" Ed buried his face into Sloth's chest, and started sobbing pitifully. Sloth pulled Ed away from her and looked into his eyes. "He killed him with alchemy, sweetheart. If you were to kill him, that would satisfy the equivalent exchange, and Al would come back."

Ed tore himself away from Sloth. "Then I'll kill him! I'll get my little brother back!"

"Thank you, Ed, I wish you lots of luck." She blew a kiss in his direction. Edward smiled, waved, and ran back toward Pinako's. Sloth smirked, converted to her watery form, and slid back to their hideout.

**_Did you like this chapter? I hope so. Please review, and then maybe Sakura-chan will consider updating soon. I can't wait to see what you come up with, Sakura-chan!_**


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks so much for the support and I hope this chapter is good.

--SakuraSagura

Disclaimer: No matter how much I try I can't get any Fullmetal Alchemist character to let me have the rights to the series. Grr, maybe some day.

When Edward got home the first thing he saw was Winry holding Den. The poor dog's metal leg was shattered and she was carefully carrying Den out of the living room. Edward walked up to Armstrong, who was holding three large boxes of auto-mail supplies, and asked what was going on.

"Den's auto-mail was broken." Armstrong said before glaring at the boy,

"YOU didn't break it out of anger did you?" Edward could feel the heated air spout from the muscular man's nostrils.

"N-no!" Edward cried and backed off a bit.

"Brother," Al spoke up suddenly. Edward's eye contact with Armstrong broke and he turned towards Al. How dare he simply sit on the couch after killing his brother! An intense rage filled his artificial body. He wanted to lunge out and tackle that murderer but Armstrong was in Edward's way.

"Have you seen Pinako?"

"NO!" Edward spat venomously. Al looked a bit taken back by that.

"Oh, alright. I'll go check the kitchen then. Al quickly left the room after that. Armstrong looked down at the steaming mad Edward.

"Calm down, there's no reason to be acting like this. Definitely not now." Armstrong said sternly. Edward glared at him in a way that plainly read, 'You have no idea'.

"I..." Ed said, still sitting on his mother's bed. "I'm, you don't, and..." He sputtered, having no idea how to say it. Tears freely flowed down his cheeks and onto the bed. He didn't know how he could even say anything. The lump in his throat was so huge it was hard to breathe. But he decided it was best to try.

"Please tell me sweetie." Trisha cooed soothingly. She placed her warm hand, something Ed had missed so much, on his shaking shoulder. Ed took a deep breath and cried,

"Mom-"

"Mrs. Elric, Mrs. Elric, come here!" Winry shouted from outside. Al came running into the room and grabbed Trisha's dress hem.

"Mom, something is coming!" Al exclaimed, obviously excited. She gave an apologetic smile to her son and left the room. Al stayed behind and stared at his brother.

"Are you okay?" He mumbled worriedly. Ed hastily wiped the tears from his face.

"Yeah, I... I am." Ed lied slowly. Al said that he didn't look okay. Ed retorted that they should just go and see what was happening.

"Oh yeah! Come on they're coming!"

"Who?"

"DAD!" Al shouted happily and grabbed Ed's hand. He dragged a bewildered Ed out the door and onto their front lawn. How could their dad be back? That wasn't possible!

Ed noticed that Winry and Miranda were standing on tiptoe to see the new comers. Al was holding onto their mom's dress hem and Trisha looked as though she was in prayer. Then Ed saw it. A group of military soldiers were passing through. Ed felt his stomach sink. Their dad hadn't gone to Ishbal. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell his mom that his dad, which just thinking the name made him angry, wasn't coming back in her life time. But he felt he had to. Ed slowly made his way over to where his mom stood. She looked so hopeful. He made sure he was on the other side of her so Al wouldn't hear. Ed gently tugged on her dress.

"Hmm?" Trisha dropped her hoping gaze down to her son. Ed looked up with big, golden eyes that clearly read,

No.

Trisha bent down, making Al let go of her dress for the moment. She was almost face to face with Ed when she asked,

"Not this time?" She questioned quietly. Ed suddenly found the blades of grass by his feet very interesting.

"He won't come back..." Ed spoke softly so only her ears would hear his quivering voice. When he saw the broken look in her beautiful eyes he quickly lied, "Today! He won't come back today." He made sure that 'today' was emphasized plenty.

Sorry mom, please forgive me.

Edward watched in fascination as Winry connected Den's auto-mail. Den whimpered and whined but aside from that he was doing fine.

"Wow." Was all Edward could say. Winry smiled faintly as she sat on the floor next to the table Den was lying on.

"I had a lot of practice." Said Winry. She didn't sound happy about it.

Pinako sighed and started to put things back into boxes.

"Will you help us pick up Ed?" She asked, even though it was more of an order. Edward shrugged and said he would. The three were the only ones in the room. Edward took a box off the floor and started picking up metal. Nuts, bolts, nails, screws, screw drivers, wrenches upon wrenches, tape measurers, metal frames, and, what's this, a very sharp object?

Edward set down the box and picked up the object. A pocket knife?

Edward hastily put it in his pocket and finished cleaning up. He had an idea.

"Goodbye guys!" Miranda called from her spot on the dirt path outside of the Elric's house.

"Bye bye!" Winry called and waved as she and Miranda walked away.

"See ya!" Al called back, waved, and watched them leave. Ed stayed silent. When he was searching to get their bodies back he'd have given almost anything to come back to this time.

A dream is only a dream until it actually happens. And when it does happen it wasn't really a dream at all. Ed sighed and turned to go back inside.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Al asked cautiously. Ed frowned,

"Nothing,"

"Liar."

"Fine," Ed said faintly while turning to face Al. "I am lying but I have a good reason."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't get it."

"Yes I would!"

"Al, you would not! I barely get it!"

"Tell me and maybe I can help it make more sense!" Al shouted at his brother. He was so upset now. His brother was acting strange and he wanted to know why.

"You'd only complicate things." Ed retorted firmly. Al's shoulders sagged and he looked defeated.

"Edward," Al began, "Why are you being such a... a..." Al looked for a word. He couldn't really find one to fit his brother at the moment. So he just ran inside. Ed furrowed his eyebrows to make his frown frown even more. He wanted to tell Al so much. But he was afraid to. Would Al hate him if he told him what he did? Hate... him...?

"Eddie, is everything... o...kay...?" Trisha asked as she came outside to see if he was coming in for dinner or not. Ed wasn't there. She looked around feverishly. Where had her child gone? Trisha went around her house several times before coming inside.

"Mom what's wrong?" Al asked, already at the table waiting to eat.

Trisha came over to him, kneeling so they were eye-to-eye.

"Alphonse do you know where your brother went?" Al could tell that she was obviously worried.

"I didn't know he went anywhere." He said nervously. Trisha clenched her teeth and went to grab the phone. "What are you doing?" Al asked curiously.

"Calling the Rockbells'." She replied shortly. The phone rang again and again. Finally someone picked up.

"Hello, Mrs. Rockbell speaking."

"This is Trisha. I was wondering if you've seen Edward today."

"No, I haven't. Winry just got home. Why is he missing?"

"Yes! He isn't anywhere around the house!" Trisha sobbed into the phone. Al got off his chair and peeked around the corner to watch his mom.

After a minute or so his mom was off the phone.

"Does Mrs. Winry's-Mom know where Ed is?" Al questioned and grabbed his mom's dress hem again. Trisha bit her lip.

"No, but we're going to look." She assured her son. Al nodded and went to go grab his coat. When he was ready they set out to go meet the

Rockbell's and several other neighbors.

Ed really seemed to have a talent for disappearing.

Al was sitting in the kitchen at the table listening to Mustang and Hawkeye's conversation on the phone. Apparently they were speaking directly to the Fuhrer. He looked very deep in thought.

"Sir, the funeral will be hosted here. The family of Edward Elric would prefer only a small group of people to be present." Mustang spoke politely into the phone.

"I see. I suppose it would be best. I assume the four of you will be at the funeral?" Came the Fuhrer's reply.

"Yes." He stopped and thought for a moment, "Fuhrer, sir, where will the military personnel stay? It wouldn't be possible to have them stay at the Rockbells'."

"Indeed, it would be quite cramped. We will find a hotel and lodge there."

"Yes, Fuhrer sir." Mustang then said farewell and set the phone down. He looked exhausted. "There's one problem gone." He mumbled. He and Al exchanged a few words before he left the phone with Hawkeye to tell Armstrong and Havoc.

Edward was watching his so called 'brother' from around the corner. He had the pocket knife in his hand. Edward had no idea what they were talking about but didn't ponder on it. His anger level was rising every passing moment. When he was sure they were alone he made his move.

"Alphonse!" He said with fake cheer as he stepped into the kitchen. Al looked up and smiled,

"Hey brother, you feeling better?" Edward made himself keep smiling and nod. He trotted over to Al, with that stressed smile still on his face.

"I hate you." Edward stated bluntly, still grinning. Al's smile was stuck on his face but still showed his was confusedly shock. "You what?"

"You killed my brother, burnt my house down, hurt my mom, and did

THIS," Edward wiped his hands to indicate his body, "To me!"

"What?"

"Don't act like you don't know! YOU MURDERER!" Edward screeched and flung his knife wielding hand at his brother. Al barely dodged it. He landed on his side on the floor. Al gaped at the android. WHAT WAS GOING ON?

"Ed, don't be rash- AH!" Al cried and rolled over and out of the way when Edward tried to jump on him. The knife was stuck in the floor. This gave Al enough time to get to his feet while Edward tried to pull it out. Edward, once he had the knife again, jumped at Al. Al simply stepped out of the way. He may be in the same body the 17-year-old had been in but he was still as coordinated as a five. He just kept dodging, making Edward angrier and angrier.

"STAND STILL SO I CAN HIT YOU!" Edward yelled madly and kicked at Al.

By this time Pinako had come in the room and grabbed a frying pan. She

promptly hit Edward over the head. He fell to the ground, knife falling from his grasp.

"What's going on?" Pinako asked, sounding scared and angry.

"I'm not sure. Ed just started to attack me all of a su-" Al was cut of by a sharp pain on his ankle.

Edward had just bit him!

"OW! GET-OFF-OF-ME!" Al grunted loudly and started to fling his leg up and down, trying to get his brother off. Finally Edward let go and fell onto his butt. He got back up as fast as he could and punched at Al. Al stepped back.

"BOYS!" Pinako shouted at the top of her lungs.

"What's going on?" Mustang asked when he came to check on the noise.

Pinako pointed. Edward had Al in a headlock and was biting his brothers prying hands. Al was trying his best to get Edward off of him without getting anyone hurt. But, since Edward was making it impossible for him to grab and pull the restraining arms off of him, he could barely breathe.

"I can handle this." Hawkeye said emotionlessly when she appeared behind Mustang. Pinako and Mustang watched as Hawkeye took out her gun and pointed it at the boys. "You have to the count of three to stop this nonsense." She barked. Both boys stared, Al with a blue face and Ed with 'I'm gonna wet my pants' fearful eyes.

1...

Edward tightened his grip.

2...

Al started kicking to get away.

3...

Riza shot her gun, Edward let go of Al and both boys screamed (Al sort of had something between a gasp and a squeal).

"So it's at Resembool?" A military officer with dark skin and hair asked the Fuhrer. The Fuhrer nodded,

"Yes, and make sure only a small group comes to-" He was cut off by the phone. He held up a hand to show the officer to hold on a second. The

Fuhrer answered the phone. "President Fuhrer King Bradley speaking."

"Hey, Pride, we have a favor to ask." Sloth said from the other side of the line. The man waiting for the Fuhrer didn't know what was going on but he could see the Fuhrer's interest in the conversation. After a few minutes the Fuhrer hung up.

"You know, on second thought, we need a VERY large group to go the Resembool. But we won't be coming for a funeral." The Fuhrer calmly said.

The man looked startled.

"We don't? Why?"

"Believe it or not Fullmetal is alive. We are going to capture him.

We'll be sending some troops."

"WHAT? I mean, sir, capture? Why on earth-"

"Please get Archer in here." The Fuhrer ordered. The man nodded, saluted, and left.

The Fuhrer smiled. It was good to be in control.

After Edward had been shot at he had ran out of the room and locked himself in another. This room was cold now that he had some time to think.

He knew they were on the other side of the door and that they were waiting. Edward was leaning against the locked door when he noticed a bed in the far corner. The room was auto-mail storage. He remembered earlier that Pinako hadn't let him in this room when they were putting things back.

Someone on the other side of the door called to him to quit this and come out. He ignored them, although it wasn't really an ignore. He was just drawn to that bed across the room.

"Edward come out please. That room is scary!" He heard Winry warn.

Edward told himself he wasn't afraid, even though he was. Slowly he pushed himself off the door and began to walk, as though transfixed, forward.

By the time he was in front of the bed his heart, artificial or not, was pounding. Something was under those covers, he knew that. Edward was just afraid to see what. He gripped the white sheet and pulled it off.

From the other side of the door the group of people heard Edward scream out in horror.

"Oh no, no, no." Winry bawled into her hands.

"Brother, I'm so sorry." Al sniffed and bit his lip as he heard his brother fall to the floor from fright. "I'm so, so sorry."

Edward had found his own corpse.


	15. Chapter 15

**_Hey, everybody! Thanks for all the reviews you left on Sakura-chan's last chapter. That one was sure an awesome chapter, wasn't it? I'm not sure that this one is quite so awesome, sadly, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. It's a little short too, I'm afraid, but that's because I didn't have a lot of time to type it up. Hope that you still like it._**

**_Disclaimer: We don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Darn, I had a witty comment all ready to use for the next time I wrote a disclaimer, and yet I forgot what it was! Man, this memory of mine is terrible. (Well, not really, since it's almost photographic, but I can pretend it's terrible, can't I? Heh.)_**

The screaming and wailing that was coming from the other side of the door was almost unbearable to Al's and Winry's ears. It would be hard for anyone to have to face up to seeing their own corpse. They had tried so hard to protect him from that, yet they had failed. What were they to do now?

"Ed, please come out," called Winry through the door, "We can explain." More crying and wailing.

"Brother, please, we don't like to see you hurt like this. Please come out," said Al.

The door swung open, and there stood a very angry looking Ed. "Is this what you did to my real younger brother, you murderer? Did you turn him into a robot too?" He didn't wait for an explanation, but pushed himself past Al and Winry, and ran out of the house, crying. No, he didn't shed one tear the whole time, since he couldn't, but he still went through the motions of crying.

Al and Winry looked at each other, then back at the area where Ed had just disappeared to. "We'd better follow him," they both said at once.

Ed was running, not watching where he was going, not even caring. This was what his future had in store for him? Al was going to be murdered by this man pretending to be him, their house was going to burn down, and he was going to be turned into a robot. This was not the sort of thing he had hoped for when he wanted to know what was going to happen in his future. He wished for anything but this, anything.

Just then, he tripped over a stone and fell with a splash into the river. The water felt really cool against his artificial skin, since he had worked up such intense heat in the past few minutes, running. He didn't really care though. He was just mad. He just lay there underneath the water, not budging, since he didn't need to breathe, and therefore, didn't need to move. He didn't want to move anyway, it was too much work right then.

After resting there in that position for several minutes, he started to get bored and thrash around, since he was still mad, after all, and wanted to take out his aggression on something. He kept kicking the water harder and harder, trying to see how high he could make it go. Suddenly, he hit the back of his head against arock, which caused the hatch on the back of his neck to pop open. The water he had kicked a moment before came splashing back down, and flooded into the open hatch.

Ed coughed and wheezed for a moment. That was strange, why was he coughing and wheezing? It actually felt like...like...like he was drowning? How could that be? He struggled to get up, but found that he was suddenly too weak to do so, and any movement now made him dizzy. What was happening to him?

He heard Al's and Winry's voices calling to him off in the distance. They actually almost sounded welcoming to him. He reached his arm out in the general direction he heard their voices coming from, and weakly called their names, in hopes that they would hear him.

They did. They came running down to the river as fast as their feet would carry them. What they saw was horrific: Ed thrashing about in the water with the hatch that contained his blood seal open, and he was losing the battle against the water! They had to do something fast!

"Ed, hang on!" called Winry. She and Al stepped down into the water, grabbed hold of his upper body, and lifted him out of the water. He coughed once more, and weakly looked up at them.

"I'm sorry, Al, Winry..." he said, "I'm sorry..." With that, the light in his eyes went out. Winry held back for a few seconds, trying to keep control of herself, when she suddenly let loose and started bawling like a baby. Al was soon to follow. They were both standing there in the river, dripping wet, hugging the lifeless android that had once contained Ed's soul. How could they go on without him?

Edward was standing by the river. He remembered how Al used to always come here whenever they had gotten into a fight. Heck, he still did sometimes. There definitely was something incredibly calming about this river, something peaceful.

He started to walk along the shore, thinking. How was he supposed to explain to his mother what was going to happen to him in the future, and get her advice, without breaking her heart? He had to do it, somehow or other, but how?

Edward suddenly glanced up. He could have almost sworn that he heard something, yet he didn't hear anything. Was he going crazy? He fell backward as something hit his chest really hard. Shaking his head, he sat up to inspect the damage. To his surprise, there was none. No blood, no bruise, no debris from whatever had hit him. What had hit him, anyway?

His arms started jerking out of control, and turning this way and that, like someone was examining them. He panicked, and tried to stop his arms from moving, but couldn't completely stop the movements. This was really scary.

(I'm back in my own body!) came a small voice from inside of his mind. Edward gasped.

(Who are you?) The little voice gasped in return.

(Who-Who are you? What are you doing in my body?)

(What are you talking about? This is MY body,) replied Edward.

(No, it's not, it's mine!) Edward almost chuckled. That was a really childish response. He had avague idea of what was going on now.

(Are you Ed?) he asked.

(Yes...who are you?)

(I'm the older version of yourself. We switched bodies, remember?)

(Yeah...I remember that...but why are you still here?)

(I haven't fulfilled my mission yet...But wait, why did you come back so soon? Did something happen?)

Little Ed sighed and started to cry. (I-I'm sorry...I-I died back there...)

(WHAT?)

(How am I supposed to get back to my own body now?)

(I'm sorry, I don't know.)

Edward sighed. He didn't know what he was going to do now, but there was no way to change what had already happened. He could only move forward.

"Come on," he said out loud, "Let's get back to the house. Mom's probably worrying about us." Edward stood up, and headed back to the house. This dream of his had really turned into a nightmare.

**_Hope you liked that chapter. Yes, another weird plot twist. I'm just a sucker for them for some reason. Heh. Anyway, leave a review, and I'm sure that Sakura-chan will be happy to update. Hehe...see you all later!_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Yeah, Sakura-chan wrote another chapter! (I like it too…though I haven't found one yet that I didn't like, hehe.) For some odd reason though, the coding came through all garbled on this one, and it took me a long time to fix it. Go figure. Anyway, if you see a spot that I missed that has some weird coding, just understand that that's why it's there. No, I can't blame it on the Mac this time. My brother's using that computer. I'm using a normal library one. Heh.**_

_**Disclaimer: Guess what? We still don't own FullMetal Alchemist, although I found some FMA novels (not graphic novels, but real NOVELS) at Barnes and Noble yesterday. Naturally, I got them, who wouldn't? What I'd like to know is how the heck did that guy get away with publishing fan fiction? (laughing to herself, while secretly envious)**_

Al, wearing brown pants, belt, blue shirt that had sleeves down to his elbows, and dirty socks, peeked out the window shyly. He, Mustang, and

Winry were in the living room. Winry, in a white and light purple pajama shirts with matching pants, stood uncertainly by the chair she had been sitting in earlier. She was rocking back and forth, obviously terrified. Mustang, in a long white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, military pants, and black boots, was standing in the center of the couches, watching Al and the window quietly, and portrayed little emotion. When Al saw what was out there he felt as if his entire stomach had just fallen to his feet. With fearful eyes he turned to Winry and Mustang. Sadly Al was unable to even squeak.

"Is…Is it that bad?" Winry gulped. She too looked afraid of what was out the window. Al barely managed a nod. Winry's frown deepened and she looked around nervously.

"How many do you think are out there?" Mustang inquired cautiously while he stuck his hand into his pocket to make sure his ignition gloves were there. Al held up a shaky hand.

"Only one? What's so bad about that?" Winry said, sounding a bit more relieved. Mustang sighed and wiped his forehead. Al took a deep breath and muttered meekly,

"Not j-just one." He glanced over at the general, who was now in full attention for the next sentence, and then continued to speak, "I meant one THOUSAND!"

"WHAT?" Mustang and Winry cried, amazed at the thought and scared at the same time. Neither of them knowing Alphonse was off by around nine hundred or so.

"Why on earth would that many come?" Hawkeye asked from the doorway. She apparently had been listening. Even the cold, gun slinging, puppy loving Hawkeye showed that she too was worried. Although she covered it up in her face and stature her eyes were a different story.

"I have no clue." Al whimpered and gave a depressing sigh.

"And," Al began, shoulders shaking, hands forming fists, and teeth clenched. He dropped his gaze down to his sock clothed feet and bawled quietly,

"And with… B-brother not here anymore," Al couldn't help it, he ended up breaking down. Hot tears streamed down his face. And, even then, Al felt guilt overwhelm him for the fact that he took the gift of crying from his brother and now he didn't even want to cry, even though he could. This only made more tears fall from his chin and to the floor. Al just stood there, quietly sobbing. Winry came over to him and said soothingly,

"It's okay Al. He's better off now." Winry placed her hands on Al's shoulders. The poor teen looked up at her with reddening eyes and asked hopefully,

"You really think so?"

"Alphonse," Winry said while giving him a sad but reassuring smile,

"I know so."

"Do you understand young man?" Trisha asked with her hands on her hips. Ed bit his lip and nodded. They were in the kitchen. Late last night someone in the search party had spotted Ed making his way home.

Trisha had been there right away and held him close. Ed had whispered something about being back in his own body. His mother could only look at him in wonder before it clicked. She wasn't able to ask anything because the next moment the rest of the search party was there. Ed was dirty and tired so Trisha made sure he was in bed right away. Even so that still didn't save him from a talk with mom.

"I'm sorry. I just woke up at the river and-"

"Please, Edward, promise mommy you'll never, ever run off like that again." Trisha kneeled down in front of her son, placed her hands on his shoulders, and looked him straight in the eye. "Promise me."

"I promise." Ed whimpered, looking at the ground. Trisha tightened her grip slightly and ordered motherly,

"Look me in the eyes and promise me." Ed's gaze wavered. He had to. He looked up into those heart-wrenching eyes and said truthfully,

"I promise mom."

"I hope you mean that." Trisha cooed sadly and brought her son into a gentle embrace. Ed hugged her back. He then said he really did. After a moment they separated and Trisha left Ed standing in the kitchen.

After a minute or so of checking to make sure no one else was around Ed huffed angrily aloud,

"Good going. I'm not gonna be an idiot too when I'm bigger, am

I?"

(I'm you, you moron!) The older Edward thought back harshly.

"Nuh uh."

(Uh huh.)

"Nuh uh!"

(Uh huh!) Edward thought back twice as loud. The little Ed's head popped up an anger mark and he practically yelled,

"You are NOT me! I am not a butthead!"

(Argh!) Big Edward yelled inside Ed's mind. Out of instinct little Ed slapped his hands over his ears. (Sorry, But this is stupid. I mean,

I'm fighting with myself!)

Ed rolled his eyes and muttered, "Are not." Before Ed knew it his right arm was no longer in his control. It moved up and down several times, little Ed gaping at it and trying to pull away, before it bonked him on the head. It wasn't hard but it got the little Ed did shut up after that.

(Alright, now what?) Edward questioned slowly, sounding unsure as to what they should do. Little Ed shrugged.

"I don't know." He then was struck with a memory. Ed then said aloud, "Did a man that looked like Al kill my, um, OUR brother?" Ed could feel his older self do something like a double-take inside their mind.

(What? Who told you THAT?) Edward asked, astonished by the lie.

"Mommy did. She said that that mean man burned down our house and hurt us and stuff. So it's not true?" Ed waited a moment, wondering why his older self wasn't saying anything. He looked around, as though if he did that he'd see who he was conversing with. "Is it true?" He asked meekly after another moment.

(No it's not! J-just who told you that?)

"I told you already! My… your… our…" Ed faltered, confused and unsure. He then just finished simply, Mom told me."

(Um, hey, listen,) Edward thought back, actually sounding regretful and hurt, (Mom is… dead in my time.)

Little Ed just stood there. He had been told that before. He had secretly known it was true, even when he denied it openly. But now if he himself said it was true, then it was.

"Br-brother?" Came a soft voice from across the room. "Big brother, who are you talking to?" Al came out from behind the chair he had hidden behind and looked at the blonde boy warily. Suddenly Ed felt his older self take over. Ed tried to fight him off but the other soul was just too strong.

"No one Al. I was just playing!" Edward made his younger self smile and run up to his brother. "So," He began, "What do you want to

do?" Al's face brightened and he gripped his brother's hand and began to drag him out the door.

"Come on, let's go!" Before either Ed knew it they were outside, following where Al led.

"Why are you here?" Pinako questioned roughly from her porch. The

Fuhrer stood impassive. Pinako looked over the group of troops standing just behind the Fuhrer. She clenched her teeth in frustration.

"We are here for Edward Elric. I believe you say he is dead and yet," The Fuhrer stated formally. Pinako didn't move as sweat rolled down the side of her face. The Fuhrer opened his only useable eye and said almost angrily, "I have been informed that Fullmetal is indeed ALIVE.

If you would then please tell me this," The Fuhrer stepped forward and continued, "Is he dead? Or is he alive? You tell me."

"Dead." Pinako said cold as ice. The Fuhrer turned his head to his troops and gave a swift hand movement. Suddenly they stormed up the steps of the porch and into the house. Pinako cussed under her breath as the group bumped into her and made her fall. One soldier stayed behind and held out a small gun, which pointed directly at Pinako's forehead.

"What you say will be held true unless we find something we

Shouldn't." The Fuhrer concluded idly. Pinako gulped as a surprised scream came from inside the house.

Winry was bumped into and she fell to her butt on the floor. When she realized that there were soldiers running around her home. She

Couldn't even stand with all the clutter. Al was knocked on the side of his head by the butt of a finely polished musket. He stumbled into a couch and sat there. After most of the men were out of the room Winry watched as Al was wrenched onto his feet and jerked about a bit. The jerking didn't last longer than a minute but it felt like an eternity. Finally, his hands being flung behind his back, Al felt something cold wrap around his wrists. He'd just been hand cuffed.

"What are you doing?" Al yelped, nearly falling over. The tall, dark soldier simply jerked his cuffs enough to get him to his feet solidly again. Another troop, the one who knocked Winry over, spoke unsympathetically,

"You've been charged with falsified murder." Both Al's and

Winry's eyes widened in shock.

"No, we didn't kill anyone-" Winry began before being slapped by the soldier who knocked her down before.

"We said 'falsified', as in to deceive someone." The man

barked. Winry stayed on the floor, dead silent. Al gulped and prayed that they wouldn't find "it".

"General Mustang," The Fuhrer scolded, standing in front of the Flame Alchemist, outside on the porch. Roy stood, stiff as wood, and listened to the Fuhrer's words. "You seemed to have lied to me. I believe you know that, if this is action is proven true, you will be accused of treason." Mustang felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the

Fuhrer's next words, "And you must know the punishment for treason.

Tell me, General, what is the punishment?"

"…Death." Mustang said, unable to control the fear in himself.

Hawkeye did a silent gasp and she tightened her grip around her arms, making Hawkeye look like she was bear hugging herself. Havoc's cigarette fell from his mouth and onto his boots. His face easily showed his emotion of regret and fear. Armstrong's eyes widened and he suddenly felt very, very helpless. Pinako grimaced; sweat rolling down her face, as she stood right next to the door with the gun wielding soldier.

"Yes, and you had better been telling me the truth over the phone."

The Fuhrer spat before making his way into the house. Just before he was at the door he ordered the large group of troops to watch the four while he took Pinako inside. They saluted and then, when the Fuhrer left, cocked their guns.

"Granny!" Winry wept as she happened to see Pinako walk by down another hallway. Al was unable to even look up at the moment. Two soldiers were pointing guns at him while the other held his face into the couch cushions. He was able to breathe but unable to see or feel very comfortable.

"Quiet!" The soldier barked madly and kicked her enough to get her to bruise. She gave a small shriek, nearly falling off the couch, the one across from Al's, and struggled to regain her balance. She too had been hand cuffed behind her back. She silenced herself, although wanting to cry, and watched helplessly as they shouted mockingly at Al.

"We hear you've committed treason." The man holding him down said sharply.

"I'm not part of the state." Came Al's muffled response. The soldier holding the musket laughed,

"You need not be part of the state to be sentenced to death!" The man howled with laughter. This made Winry look as though she was seeing Barry the Chopper coming her way. Al cringed at his words. Was he going to die because he loved his brother enough to try and save him? That just wasn't fair!

"Hey," A short, plump soldier said as he came into the living room they were in. The others looked up at him and asked what was up. The short, plump soldier indicated both Al and Winry with a nod of his head,

"Fuhrer President King Bradley wishes for these two to show him something." With slight hesitation they handed the two over.

"There goes our fun…" Al heard one say as he was taken to the Fuhrer.

By the time Winry and Al were brought to the Fuhrer the house was pretty much looking like a stampede had just one through, even though some soldiers were still inside. Winry wasn't sure or not if they'd be able to find all of their possessions as she walked by a pair looking greedily at a golden lined cup in the kitchen. Even that wasn't the only thing that was scaring her about these soldiers. She shook those disturbing images from her mind's eyes as the Fuhrer began to speak.

"Show me where you hid him."

"I don't understand-" Al began quietly before he was smacked on the back of his head by the plump man. He let out a grunt of pain before dropping his gaze to the wooden floor. Thing were littered all over.

Broken or not, this was being to seem out of hand. What a mess!

"If not then you will accompany me on my search." With that said by the Fuhrer the three, Pinako, Alphonse, and Winry, were led from room to room to hall to hall in search of Edward's body.

Sloth was watching from the window in the upstairs bedroom of Miranda's home. From there she could faintly see the Rockbell's. Troops were scattered around that area she noticed. For some reason she almost felt regretful. Sloth wasn't able to understand why though. She was still holding her head in her hand on the window sill as she looked over at the twin sized bed, mind barely slowing down. On top of the purple and white checkered sheets was Wrath. He was curled up, hugging the drooled on pillow, and snoring a little. She smiled sweetly. The bedroom was only big enough so that a bed, work desk, nightstand, and a lone book shelf could fit comfortable in it. The door behind her flew open and Envy barged in.

"Sloth, you see that? Pride actually brought in troops! I hear over a

hundred." Envy chuckled darkly a bit at that, waking Wrath in the process.

"Will you ever learn to be quiet, Envy?" Sloth scolded menacingly.

Envy rolled his eyes.

"Why are you mad? Are you because I woke the baby?" Envy smirked and laughed. Wrath, still sitting on the bed, scowled and transmuted the floor to wrap itself around Envy.

"Shut it!" Wrath fumed, irritated after being awoken from his nap.

The wood was firmly around Envy's knees when Wrath felt satisfied.

Since the floor hadn't had enough substance the desk had also been used. A ruler, some pens, pencils, papers, and a scissors were sticking out on various places of the mess. Envy started to shout out crude language and insults at the young homunculus. After a few minutes of their squabbling Sloth turned on them and said,

"Envy if you don't shut your mouth I'll personally drown you." Envy frowned hatefully. Wrath on the other hand smiled in an "I'm superior to you" kind of way. "And you, Wrath, put the things back the way they're supposed to be." Wrath and Envy's expression instantly switched. Wrath grudgingly did as told.

"Little babies always do as told, don't they?" Envy smirked at

Wrath and pretended to try and kick him. Wrath jumped back, whining a bit.

"Stop it!" A blushing Wrath yelled, upset now. Envy smirked, transformed into a Wrath look-alike, and imitated him.

"Stop it!" He said in a mocking tone. Wrath balled his hands and stuck out his tongue. Envy did the same. This went on for a while until Sloth intervened.

"Envy, you do realize that Fullmetal died last night, right?" Sloth asked slowly. Envy did a double take. His face clearly said

"what?". Wrath's face was still for a moment until a devious grin appeared.

"His body, can I have it mommy?"

"You wouldn't want this body." Sloth replied shortly. Wrath and

Envy looked confused. Envy glanced at Wrath a moment before directing full attention to Sloth.

"Why wouldn't he?" Envy questioned, obviously interested. Sloth turned back to the window and told them why.

"What's in here?" The Fuhrer inquired harshly. Al listened as Pinako stated that it was the storage room for auto-mail parts. A chill shot down Al's spine as a tall, bearded troop took a hold of the door knob. Slowly he opened it.

"Alphonse… Edward's…" Winry whispered hopelessly to Al, her eyes practically bulging from her head. Pinakoâ€™s face was wrinkled up in apprehension. The three of them looked at each other. The unspoken knowledge passed between them. If the Fuhrer saw what was in there who knows what would happen. Before they were ready for it said Fuhrer smirked at their expressions and walked into the room. The men holding them back jerked them back and forth some odd times.

"What ya scared about?" Winry's captor growled delightedly. He wrenched her back, in turn twisting her wrist in a horrible way. She felt something painfully wrong happen to her wrist. She cried out, tears threatening to fall, thinking it could be broken.

"Leave her alone!" Al yelled furiously. They were treating them worse than abused dirt! Without warning the short, plump man holding him kicked him in the back of his leg where the knee would be in front of. Al winced in pain and crashed to his knees.

"Quiet traitor." The man ordered darkly. He would have said more but the Fuhrer spoke out from the room.

"GET THEM IN HERE NOW!"

"Yes, sir!" The troops said in unison and began to drag them in. While passing boxes filled with auto-mail, a desk or two with scattered parts, and random screws and bolts, the dread filled up inside them.

"You three, tell me who is responsible for creating THIS." He commanded heatedly and flung his hand out at the two bodies lying next to one another. The soldiers let out gasps as they stared at two corpses that look almost exactly alike. The only difference was that the one on the far side was gray and puffed out. One could easily tell it was dead, the smell helping as well. The one nearer was a normal color and looked simply like someone in a non breathing sleep. Aside from that and different clothing they were identical. "Tell me NOW!" The Fuhrer bellowed, outraged beyond anyone had ever seen him. Winry croaked out her voice,

"Fuhrer, sir, you see-"

"I did it." Pinako said, sounding like someone confessing. Al and Winry snapped their eyes over at the old woman. What was she doing? It was Winry who had made the body, Al supervising. And it was Al who had trapped his brother's soul in that metal body, with the help of Winry.

So why was she…? Winry wanted to cry and hold her Granny close but knew that was impossible. Winry understood that Pinako was taking her place for what ever punishment might be in store. What love it must take to do that.

"I see." The Fuhrer said to himself. He ordered the transfixed troops to take Pinako and send her to Central. The Fuhrer then took the short, plump man aside and spoke to him privately. Al barely made out any of it. But, what he did hear he sure didn't like.

"Take…Ms. Rock…Central…Lab…Tuck…Experime…"

Once he was done speaking to him he then openly ordered his men to take these bodies to Central as well. The plump man left to inform several others of both commands. The man holding Pinako was told to follow the plump man. Winry and Al watched, tears starting to blur their vision, as Pinako was led away. Her head lifted only to give her granddaughter a loving smile before she bent her face back down. The Fuhrer then turned back to Al and Winry, both now having new captors, and asked,

"Now, what should we do with you?"

"How do you know he drowned in that android body?" Wrath asked, reluctant to believe his prized body was gone for good. Envy raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips.

"Sloth, you weren't the river water, were you?" Envy asked doubtfully and yet ready to believe. She nodded.

"I was curious as to what he was. So I ran into him, accidentally pushing him at that rock. The next thing I knew a door opened up on him and he began to struggle, kicking me. I thought he realized it was me so I fought back." Sloth finished sounding almost sorry. Time seem to slowly pass before Envy spoke up again, this time he was curious as well.

"He must still be at The Gate then." Envy mused out loud. Before

Sloth could register his words Envy took a hold of Wrath's hands. He forcefully dragged the little homunculus out of the room, down the stairs, around the first level, and into the outside. When Wrath was accustomed to the sunlight he glared up at where he thought Envy would be.

Instead he found that Envy was in Miranda's form.

"Where. Are. You. Taking. Me?" Wrath grunted as he was dragged away from the house, running the entire time. Envy, with Miranda's eyes, glared back down at him and stated,

"I'm taking you to a place," He jumped up, startling poor Wrath who realized he was practically flying over the river, and landed crudely. He slid a bit in the muddy bank before coming to a stop. Before

Wrath could protest what Envy was doing the homunculus continued, "Where you can open The Gate and send me over to where that shrimp puff is."

"WHAT!" Wrath yelped as Envy turned around the side of a fence sharply. "You want me to do THAT?"

"Yep." Envy said lightly while slowing to a stop. It was a low valley area, as many parts of Resembool are. On the far side were clumps of beautifully green trees and shrubs. The grass was long and rich with wild flowers. Back in the distance they could see that shimmering river they had recently crossed. All in all it was a very lovely place. Wrath looked up at Envy, who promptly transformed back to normal, and he asked dumbly,

"The Gate… You want ME to open it?"

"I don't see any other homunculus who can use alchemy." Envy retorted smartly. Wrath half frowned and kicked his left foot over the tall blade of grass. He wondered aloud if they should really open The Gate here. Envy slapped Wrath in the back of his head and said it was now or never. Wrath sighed, after bawling about Envy hitting him and what he'd tell his "mommy".

"Alright, But don't kill him until you bring him back." Wrath said haughtily. Envy laughed,

"He's already dead! Or he should be. I'll just find his soul in

'that place' and dismiss of him once and for all." Envy spat that last sentence out like it was the worst tasting thing ever.

"Fine. Here I go." Wrath said, sounding a lot like a complaint. He slammed his hands on the fertile ground and called for The Gate. Envy's grin widened as it appeared. The landscape was vigorously swept away and replaced with an unending white mist. A large, stone structure appeared.

"Take me to where the dead Edward Elric is!" Envy bellowed at The Gate. Wrath watched, looking worried about himself being dragged away, as it opened. Black hands lashed out, taking a hold of the envious homunculus.

"Let go! I need to find Edward Elric the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Envy yelled and swiped at the black hands, breaking several in two. They made way for him as he jumped inside. Envy madly called out, while transforming into Edward, "Take me to him! He's already died once. Take me to him so I can kill him with my own hands!"

The Gate closed shut with a deafening creak. The white mist dispersed and the scenery returned to normal. Wrath, a bit shaken by that, lowered himself to his bottom. He took a deep breath and asked himself aloud,

"What's his problem?"

_**Well, there's the chapter. Hope you liked it. Now please leave us a lot of good reviews, and I'll update sooner. The more reviews, the more motivated I get to write, so please leave us a lot of reviews, okay? Thanks a bunch, hope to see you soon!**_


	17. Chapter 17

**_Hey everybody! Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. This last week has been hectic! Sigh. Oh well, it's here now, right? Hope that you like it._**

**_Disclaimer: Neither I nor SakuraSagura own FullMetal Alchemist. Want a creative disclaimer? Go read Sakura-chan's fic about puppets. Hehehe...best disclaimer I ever read. (Laughing to herself.)_**

"Brother, what's the matter?" Al asked, noticing his brother's look of deep thought written across his face.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" Ed stuttered.

"There is too!" Al contradicted, "Tell me what it is!"

Ed sighed and shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"I would too!"

"No, you wouldn't."

Geez, older Ed thought to himself, I'm starting to act like a five-year-old.

(Hey! You be nice, I am five!) said younger Ed inside him.

Ed put up his hand in defense of himself. "Alright, I'm sorry, I forgot about you, okay?" He had said that last bit aloud, not thinking.

"Brother, who are you talking to?" Oops. He had been talking out loud in front of Al again.

"Oh, uh, no one," said Ed, "Just pretending again. You know…just…pretending."

Al made a perplexed expression on his face, but said nothing more. They walked along in silence for a few more minutes, when Al spoke up again. "Brother, something's definitely the matter. Tell me what it is."

"I told you, you wouldn't understand," said Ed.

"Just tell me what it is anyway," Al cried, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. At this, Ed's heart melted.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you what's going on, but I warn you, it's not going to make any sense to you."

"Well, what is it?" asked Al.

Ed sighed for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts, and then spoke up. "You know what's going to happen in the future?"

"What?" said Al.

"I'm going to become a robot."

Al stood shocked for a few moments, and then burst out laughing. He obviously didn't believe a word his brother was saying. That was probably just as well. Ed leaned his head back and sighed.

Then it suddenly hit him: This was what Al had told him he'd said a long time ago. He himself had never remembered saying it. Perhaps that was because he hadn't…yet. He shook his head. This was just too weird.

Al stopped laughing for a second, and then looked back at Ed. "So what am I going to be, a knight in shining armor?"

Ed coughed and sputtered in response for several moments before he finally regained his composure and said, "Well…sorta…" To this, Al laughed even harder. Ed shook his head and continued to walk on ahead of Al. He would just let him stop laughing and catch up on his own.

(So what was that about?) asked little Ed.

(What?) asked older Ed.

(That knight in shining armor bit.)

(Oh,) older Ed chuckled, (You'll understand when you're older.)

(No, tell me now! That's why I went to the future in the first place, isn't it?)

(You don't need to know just yet,) said older Ed, (It's not a very pleasant time of our lives. You're lucky to have bypassed that era.)

(And you think the time that I went to WAS pleasant?) younger Ed almost yelled.

(I never said it was,) older Ed replied, (It's just not quite as bad as that…other time. Trust me, I'm older than you…I'm older YOU. I know what I could have handled when I was your age. Please don't bother me about this.)

(Fine,) younger Ed growled.

Finally, Ed turned around and noticed that Al wasn't beside them. "Oops, we left Al in the dust," older Ed said aloud, "Let's go back and get him."

They soon found Al and proceeded to start playing some random game, which older Ed allowed younger Ed to have control of their body for that purpose since younger Ed enjoyed playing more than older Ed did anyway. He tried to relax and enjoy the fun, but he couldn't help but worry. How was he going to get home? How were Al and Winry in his time? Would he ever see them again? Why had he been so selfish? If he had only accepted his fate, and lived in the body that he had been given, he wouldn't be here.

Well, he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. He was going to accept his fate no matter what it was, even if it meant staying here.

Al, Winry, and Pinako, back in older Ed's time, were quickly loaded up in trucks and quickly rushed off to wherever their destination was, Al and Winry being in one truck, Pinako being in a totally different one.

"Well, I guess this is it," said Al, "I'm so sorry, Winry. I just…I'm so sor-"

"Shh!" said Winry, trying to shut him up, "We can get out of here."

"How?" asked Al.

"If you can reach it," said Winry, "I've got a knife in my pocket."

"A KNIFE?" he practically shouted, "Since when have you been carrying a kni-"

"Shush!" she almost shouted back, "You don't want them to hear, do you?"

Al clamped his mouth shut. "Okay…how do I get it out then?"

"Just maneuver around, and try to pull the knife out of my pocket. Somehow or other, we'll get each other loose."

It was awkward, but Al finally managed to get the knife out of Winry's pocket, and working together, they managed to maneuver the knife kind of like a key and get the handcuffs off.

"Phew! That's a relief," Al said, rubbing his wrists, "Now what do we do?"

"Jump off," said Winry.

"JUMP OFF?" Al shouted.

"Shush!" said Winry, clapping her hand over Al's mouth. "You sure are loud today."

"Sorry," came a muffled reply from underneath Winry's hand. "I'm just not used to this."

"Who is?" said Winry, "Now come on! We can't be wimps like this."

Al nodded, and the two proceeded to jump off the truck, rolling as they hit the ground. They managed to get by with only a few bumps and scratches. Not too bad, considering how fast the truck had been going.

Al sat back up and looked after the truck that was quickly receding in the distance. "I only wish we could get Auntie out like that."

"We'll find her, Al, don't worry," she patted Al's shoulder to console him. Al granted her a brief smile, and then turned back to watch the truck continue to recede in the distance.

"I hope so, Winry, I really hope so."

It wasn't too long before they finally arrived back home. They expected there to still be soldiers posted around the house, but strangely enough, there were none. Apparently, they had suspected there to be nothing more to look for once they had taken everyone out.

Al pushed open the door that hung loosely on its hinges from all the rummaging the soldiers had done, and walked inside. The place was a horrible mess. Winry could barely contain herself, so Al slipped a hand around her shoulder and said, "It's okay, Win, it's okay."

They carefully traipsed through the house, looking for anything that could possibly be of value to them in this crucial moment of time. They knew they couldn't stay here long; this was one of the first places the military would look for them.

Almost everything was destroyed. They managed to find a few things that could possibly be useful: some blankets, some clothes, some dishes, and even a little bit of money that Pinako had wisely stashed under the floorboards, where nobody knew it had been, except for Winry of course. That woman was always planning ahead. One couldn't help but admire her.

Before long, Al found himself beside the tool closet. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in there, but Winry placed her hand on his shoulder to console him this time and said, "We need to look everywhere in the house, don't we?" Al gulped and nodded. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, and they both stepped into the closet.

As could be expected, this place was just as much of a mess as anywhere else in the house. They traipsed through all the various pieces of auto-mail and tools that were scattered all over the place, trying to see if anything of value was left.

Al was pawing through one particular pile of stuff when he suddenly jumped back in shock. He pulled out a piece of metal and held it up for Winry to see. "Is this what I think it is?"

Winry's mouth dropped open in shock. "Yeah, that is. Why is that here?" It was the plate that had contained Ed's blood seal on it. It had a little bit of blood left on it that was run from the water, so it obviously did not contain Ed's soul anymore.

"Maybe Auntie managed to disconnect this from the rest of the body," said Al, "So that they wouldn't figure out the secret of how it's done."

"Maybe," Winry mused.

Al stared contemplatively at the remnant of blood on the piece of metal in his hand. It just didn't look right to not have the blood seal in place. So, he took Winry's knife, slit his finger, and redrew the blood seal. He knew it wouldn't do any good, but it made him feel a little bit better.

He placed the newly-fashioned seal reverently on a shelf, and stepped back. "May you rest in peace, Brother, wherever you are."

He and Winry then turned and left the room, not realizing that the seal had flashed just for a moment shortly after he had placed it there.

**_There's your chapter, hope you liked it. Please leave me a review!_**

**_What? I didn't leave a lot of author notes? No, I'm tired. It's my day off, so I stayed up really late. I work the night shift, and it's after 6:00 PM now, and I haven't slept yet. Yeah, I'm tired alright, hehe. I can get away with it this time though._**


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer…

Once upon a time, in a land close to the anime border, were two writers. They wanted to get the rights to FMA. If they could get these rights they could plant and raise their fan-crops for their loyal subjects of Fanfictionia! Their names were Queen Le Agent000 and her friend, a sly fox named Sakura.

They took writing utensils and a snow cone each, since it was summer and very hot out. Together, they crossed the border into Animeland. After several hours of autograph begging, getting lost, and buying more snow cones the Queen spotted the place they had been searching for.

"There." She said, pointing with her pencil scepter. The fox looked with wide eyes. Standing before them was a scary castle that one could place in a horror movie. They watched as lightning struck out from the ominous clouds, which were only around the castle and not the rest of Animeland. The fox tapped her Queen on the shoulder, saying,

"Uh, I don't think they produce Fullmetal Alchemist there. I could be wrong but I think they live over there." The fox motioned to a Studio entitled, 'The Place where the production of Fullmetal Alchemist is'. The Queen looked from the castle to the studio.

"I don't know… How do we know that the studio is really where they are?" The fox slapped her forehead, grabbed the Queen's hand, and led her to the front door. The Queen knocked. Soon the door opened and a small cow, wearing glasses, poked its head out.

"Hello? Oh, more fans, how may I help you?"

"Hi, you must be Hiromu Arakawa! My friend and I were wondering if we could own Fullmetal Alchemist?" The fox said. The cow slammed the door shut. While glaring at the fox, the Queen said,

"Great! We STILL don't own FMA!"

Le end

(Was the long and entertaining enough for you?)

"Heh heh, I'll get you brother!" Al laughed happily as he ran behind his older sibling. Little Ed smiled and jumped out of the way, only to trip on a rock that had been sticking out of the ground. Ed was on his back, though not hurt just a bit shocked. He blinked several times as Al called to see if he was all right.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ed assured his little brother. Al ran over to Ed, who had gotten into a sitting possession, as quickly as he could.

"You're a mess." Al laughed easily, referring to his big brother's muddy clothing, as he reached his hand for his brother's. Ed took his hand and let Al help pull him to his feet. Suddenly, instead of standing up, both the brother's were pushed to the ground by a powerful force. The brothers gawked, holding each other in a bear hug as something strange began to take place.

(What's going on?) Little Ed thought frantically, eyes wide and face fear stricken as he watched a white mist begin to replace the Resembool scenery.

(It's… It's The Gate!) Edward exclaimed from inside little Ed.

(Why is it appearing now?)

(I don't know!)

"BROTHER!" Al cried, snapping Ed back into attention. Standing before them was a large stone structure with horrifying sculptures of frozen humans. The entire Resembool frontier had been wiped out, leaving only a white nothingness behind. Ed's large golden eyes gaped at Al, scared for both of them.

"What does it want?" Ed asked aloud, his voice quivering. The question had been for his older self, but Al, since Ed was looking at him, answered,

"That's what I want to ask you! Edward, what is that thing?" Al looked scared, no, beyond scared. It reminded the older Ed of the look Al had on the night of the failed transmutation. Ed gulped, should he explain? Before he could conjure the words there was a deafening creak. Turning, the brothers watched as the large stone structure opened. From where they sat the two only saw darkness.

"Are we… are you going back?" Younger Ed asked himself. Al looked at him for a moment, with a look that suggested his brother was going crazy, before redirecting his eyes back to The Gate.

(I'm… not sure.) Edward thought back to his younger self, (My new body is useless now that the blood seal is gone.)

"You're right…"

"Whose right?" Al piped up, voice cracking slightly. Ed was about to say something along the line of 'no one' or 'nothing' but was stopped in his tracks. Looking down at him were thousands of dark eyes, one much, much larger than the rest. As the brothers looked at them in confusion long black arms lashed out at them, trying to pull the brothers apart.

"EDWARD!" Al screeched at the top of his voice, barely hanging on to his brother, lustful arms pulling at him, breaking him down all at once.

"ALPHONSE!" Both Edwards screamed at once. What was happening? Both of the Edwards refused to let their brother be taken. They wouldn't let themselves be separated. Edward, his lower leg already beginning to be taken, wouldn't go back like this!

"Winry," Al said as he was looking over a turned table. The mechanic looked up from the box she had been swiftly looking through. Al was standing straight and stiff, eyes watching just down the hall where the storage room was.

"What is it Al?" Winry asked, confused by his behavior. Suddenly she noted where Al was looking. She frowned sadly and bit her lip before saying, "I'm sorry, but he's not… I mean…" She flattered, tears stinging her vision as she tried to keep them from falling. Al barely heard her before replying slowly,

"Someone called my name."

"What?" Winry yipped, a bit startled at Al tone of voice. Was he going mad from losing his brother again?

"Some just… Edward… He's calling me!" Al's lips formed a soft, hopeful smile as he unexpectedly charged down the hall to the storage room. The click of his shoes against the beaten floor echoed inside Winry's head. The great Fullmetal refused death again? Winry stood up, shaking a bit, and ran to the storage room as well. Looking in through the door she saw Al, his back to her, standing a few feet from the piece of metal he had just recently redrawn a blood seal on. Winry's mouth dropped when she took a good look at the seal. It was flashing, little sparks of alchemic energy flaring around it. Then she heard it. It was like a rush of wind mingling with the words of children. She knew that voice as soon as she heard it,

"Don't let go Al!" It was Edward! Al's smile was stuck on his face, being over come slowly by fear. "Al, hold on! AL!" Edward called desperately, both Winry and Al getting the picture of a younger Ed and Al grasping each other by the hand, some unknown force trying to separate them. The image was dismissed from Winry's mind when she heard a choked sob. Turning slowly from the flashing piece of metal she saw that tears were streaming down Al's face. Suddenly she had a sinking feeling.

"Al, Don't you dare touch that!" She ordered shrilly. Al stepped forward. "Al! Stay away from that! You don't know what it'll do to you!" She yelled anxiously. Al didn't even seem to hear her, let alone flinch. He practically flew to his brother's blood seal. He grabbed onto the metal, a rush of nothingness roaring over him and Winry. Then he saw it. The Gate was standing before him and Winry, looming over them. Then he knew, without even thinking, that his brother was on the somewhere beyond The Gate of Truth.

The truck turned a corner, rocking the small, old woman roughly against the wall. She cussed to herself as the back of her head rammed against the wall. With a frown she huffed,

"You'd think they'd take care of me a bit better than this if they wanted my secrets." Pinako leaned back, sighing. Her thoughts were racing; she wanted to know how everyone was. Was her granddaughter all right? How was Al? Did they escape or were they still in the same predicament as she? Pinako even had to wonder if her new military friends were okay.

Death for the Traitor, she remembered unexpectedly. Shaking her head to rid the thoughts of any of her friends and family at the execution grounds, Pinako scooted over a bit so that she could get a good look around. It was hard since her hands were cuffed, but she managed. The truck was as ordinary as any other jailing van, no windows, metal walls, ceiling, and floor, a door only able to open from the outside. The usual. Then Pinako noticed something. In the far corner there was a loose screw. A smirk formed on Pinako's face. The Pantheress of Resembool had an idea.

Up front at the wheel, the driver looked lazily out at the road in front of him. The man sitting next to him yawned as they turned another corner. As they did so they heard a loud crash. Both men jumped, the driver losing control for a second. Looking at the driver the second military man asked frightened,

"What was that?"

"We probably just ran over something…" The driver mumbled back, not completely sure himself. The two men left it at that. Just a minute or so later they heard another sound. Both men glanced at each other, both with the same thought in mind.

"Should we pull over?" The second military man inquired, wanting to know what the heck was going on.

"Probably should." Came the reply. The second man signaled out his window for the trucks behind them to stop. There was a humming noise as they opened their doors. Before either could step to the ground there was a loud popping and ground rushed upward. Yelping the men fell out of the truck, to the ground, next to the four flat tires they now had.

Al's head hurt. He couldn't really remember what had happened other than that he had been at The Gate with Winry. As the grass underneath and around him swayed in the wind it all came rushing back to him. He sat up quickly as he could, his eyes blurred by the light of the sun. He rubbed his eyes and once they could focus he looked around. It was beautiful! The lush green grass everywhere, the river not to far from where he sat, the mountains far off behind the shopping area of Resembool, the trees that popped up here and there, the afternoon sun setting off behind his house… Wait, what? Al blinked several times to make sure he was seeing right. It was his house! Al suddenly remembered Ed; looking around frantically he spotted a small child with long blonde bangs covering his eyes. It was his brother, only as a child!

"Big… er, Edward!" Al cried, standing up. He stopped and looked down at his legs. He was also a child! What was going on? He shook the thought from his head as he jogged over to the boy only a few feet away. Al bit his lip as he checked his brother's plus. Sighing in relief he smiled, his brother was smaller but alive all the same. He then shook his brother gently. When all he got was a snore and a bit of drool he shook him a bit harder. "Edward, wake up!"

"Nngh…" Edward mumbled softly, opening his eyes reluctantly. He stared at Al for a moment before saying, "Al, I thought I lost you. The Gate opened and… and…"

"Brother, how old are you?" Al asked sternly, still holding onto Ed's shoulders. His brother blinked before getting a suspicious look on his face.

"How old are you?"

"Ow… My head…" Winry moaned to herself as she sat upward. From behind her she heard Al stir a little. "Al!" She cried out, crawling over to him on her hands and knees, being careful of the mess on the floor. He looked at her for a moment, confusion over his face.

"Who are you? He asked slowly. Winry stared at him in astonishment. Had he forgotten her when he saw that thing? His expression changed from confusion to a joyful smile. "Winry it's you!" Al laughed and hugged her. Shocked at his behavior, Winry managed to push her blush off of her face and pull him off her. His look of happiness was over come by a surprise as Winry inquired,

"Al, how old are you now?"

"I'm four." He said childishly holding out his fingers to show her. With his big smile he waited. But, before Winry could reply his face turned upset and he grumbled, "My name is Edward, Winry, you know that!"

"Ed is that you?" Winry said, very bewildered. Al nodded saying angrily,

"I already told you Winry that I'm Ed-" his face suddenly became calmer as he said, "-phonse." Winry looked at Al for a long moment. She noticed the metal piece still in his right hand. Then something hit her.

"Oh no," She mumbled, "Ed and Al… are you in there. Al nodded slowly saying,

"It's me Al! I told- can't you tell I'm Ed?"

**_Yes, finally an update, and what an awesome one too! That was worth the wait, I must say! It's a whole lot different than what I'd had in mind, but also a whole lot better! (Rubs hands) I can't wait to try and tackle the next chapter! Anyway, peoples, since I haven't been updating much of anything lately, in order to actually convince me TO update, you'll have to leave me a lot of reviews, got it? Heh heh heh (evil laugh) See you all soon!_**


	19. Chapter 19

**_This one took me a little while to write, strangely enough. Heh. Couldn't think up what to have happen, so it doesn't have a lot of action, sorry. Hope that you like it anyway. I was at a coffeeshop yesterday, and they had live Celtic music playing while I was writing up the second half of this chapter...so yeah, it kind of influenced my writing, hehehe. Hope that you enjoy it._**

Disclaimer: Hey, Ed, would you like to come over here and write the disclaimer for me?

Ed: Sure. (Sits at keyboard and types) Melissa and Sakura do not own me. I wouldn't let them own me if they tried. I even get annoyed when they pretend to own me. For that matter, this fanfiction stuff they write annoys me, and...

Me: Um, Ed, I think they get the idea, would you please let me have the computer back so that I can write?

Ed:...this auto-mail annoys me, people that treat me like dirt annoy me, milk annoys me...

Me: Sigh. (Rolls eyes) Well, it might be awhile before I can get the computer back from him. Just read the chapter until I can, okay?

"What?" Ed's eyes gave off a perplexed look as he saw his younger brother kneeling over him with a concerned expression on his face. "Al, you know how old I am, so why do you ask?"

Al leaned in even closer to Ed. "Brother, I'm not referring to the age of your body. How old is your soul?"

At this, Ed's eyes shot open. "Al...are you...are you from...?"

Al bit his lip and nodded slowly. "Yes, Brother...I'm the Al from the future. The question I have is...are you the Ed belonging to this time...or my time?"

Ed lay on his back in silence for several minutes, not responding to Al's inquiry, and staring past him into the bright blue sky that stretched over the landscape. "Al..." he finally said, "...how did you get here?"

Al lurched forward with a hint of eagerness. "Brother, does that mean...?"

"Yes," said Ed, "I'm the Ed from your time...but I'm kind of confused. For a while, both me and my younger self were sharing this body. Then, for no apparent reason, the Gate opened up and took him away...and apparently took your younger self as well...and now, here you are. It makes no sense...the Gate doesn't just appear randomly...does it?"

Al gulped and looked down at the ground. "No, Brother, it doesn't." Noticing the look of surprise on Ed's face, he continued, "I...caused the Gate to open back up...because I redrew your blood seal."

Ed sat up suddenly, almost knocking Al for a loop. "What? H-How could that have opened up the Gate?"

Al shook his head. "I don't know...I guess it had something to do with blood calling to blood...or something. I don't really know."

Ed just grunted in response, and then proceeded to stand up and dust his pants off. He extended his hand to pull Al to his feet. "We'd better get back inside before Mom starts fretting over us."

"M-Mom?"

Ed nodded. He didn't say anything, but merely started walking toward the house, and gestured for Al to follow when he noticed that Al seemed petrified in place.

"Mom is...alive?" Al panted, out of breath from running to catch up with his brother, as well as from the rapidly beating heart he got as soon as he first had heard that his mother was alive in this time.

Ed turned and looked at his brother, but again didn't say anything, and instead pushed open the front door and walked in. Al followed closely behind him, eyes wide as he took in his surroundings. It all felt so surreal, seeing all of this that he had left behind so many years before.

"Edward, Alphonse, are you done playing? Could you come and help me set the table then? We have company tonight."

Al froze in his tracks. Mom's voice. He slowly looked up and into the face that belonged to his mother. "...Mom?"

"Yes, Alphonse?" came the gentle reply.

Al couldn't help but repeat the word, "Mom" once again.

Trisha came and knelt down in front of Al. "Yes, sweety, what is it?"

Tears wells up in Al's eyes as he looked up into the familiar ones of his mother's that he thought he'd never see again. "Mom..." The word came choking out.

Trisha sat in place, holding onto Al's shoulders, and she pinched her eyebrows together in an expression of confusion. Al had never continuously said "Mom" before, so what was going on? Suddenly, her expression relaxed as realization dawned upon her. "You're from the future too, Alphonse?"

Al gasped. "How did you...?"

Trisha nodded in Ed's direction. "Edward told me before. He doesn't seem to want to tell me much...though I've gathered that I'm no longer around in your time."

Al's head snapped in his brother's direction. "How could you tell her that?"

Ed put up his hands defensively. "I didn't! She figured it out on her own."

"Don't blame your brother, Al," Trisha said as she gently squeezed Al's shoulders, "I have a mother's intuition. What you don't say tells me just as much as what you do say."

Al looked down at the ground for another moment. A few stray tears made their way down his face and onto the floor. He had never dreamed that this would ever happen to him. This was just too good to be true. "Mom?" he said again.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

Without another word, Al threw his arms around his mother and began sobbing into her chest. Trisha gently stroked Al's hair, and tried to console him, though the sobbing remained just as loud and strong. Before long, Edward had joined in their little group hug, and the whole group was now crying. The brothers had never thought they'd ever have the chance to tie up loose ends like this...but apparently, fate had willed it so. For that, they were grateful.

Winry let out an exasperated sigh. "Al, you're such an idiot. And here I warned you, and you still got yourself into this mess." She looked up into Al's face and saw a look of confusion spread across it. "I didn't mean you guys." She put up her hand as if to wave him off.

"You...guys?" said Al.

Winry sighed again. Apparently, Ed and Al didn't even realize what had happened to them yet. The poor things. How would she explain this, expecially since she would have to explain it all in the language a four and five year old would understand?

She grabbed Al's chin and looked deep into his eyes. "Listen...this may be a little hard to understand...but just try, okay?" Al nodded, so she continued speaking after she took a deep breath. "Well, for some strange reason, there are two people in your body. Can't you both feel your brother's soul in there? This body holds the souls of both Ed and Al."

In response to this, Al gave off a number of conflicting reactions, ranging from calmer ones like, "I don't understand" to the ones with more energy involved such as "What the heck are you talking about?"

Winry shook her head. "It's hard to explain, boys. Why don't you try to talk to each other? Maybe you'll understand better then."

Al went silent for a few minutes, just staring into space. At times, Winry was able make out a little bit of lip movement, indicating that communication between the brothers was indeed taking place, albeit telepathically, so she heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

At last, Al looked once again at Winry, and said, "Winry, you were right. We both are sharing the same body...but why? Shouldn't my older self have come back, instead of us?"

Winry nodded subconsciously. It was pretty obvious which of the brothers had been speaking there. Sometimes it was difficult to tell though. She'd have to teach the brothers how to make themselves clear, since they undoubtedly hadn't a clue at present on how to do that, being only four and five.

Snapping out of her trance, she said, "Um, I really don't know why this happened, boys, but we'll do what we can to fix it. Until then, you're just going to have to do whatever I tell you to do. Bad things are happening lately, and I don't want you to get hurt. So, if I tell you to do something, I want you to do it without question. Got it?"

She did manage to get a nod and an affirmation that her word would be followed without question, which made her think that it was Al she had convinced thus far, and not Ed. Consequently, she directed her attention towards the other being inhabiting Al's body.

"Ed, you need to listen to me too. You could get yourself hurt if you don't...both you and Al. Promise me that you'll do as I say." Winry locked a stare at him with a pleading look in her eyes. Ed watched her expression for a moment and then let out a sigh of resignation.

"Fine. Whatever." Now THAT was definitely Ed! She was making some progress in identifying these two.

Winry stood up off of the floor and dusted herself off. "Okay, the first thing we need to do is get out of here. There are bad people looking for us right now, and this is one of the first places they'd look, so we have to leave." She turned and faced the door. "Come on, Ed, Al...we have to go." She motioned with her hand and then walked out the door. Al shrugged, stood up, and followed after her.

After dinner, Ed and Al were both exploring their old house that they hadn't seen in years, since they had burned it down. They couldn't believe the memories that kept resurfacing...usually good ones, though the occasional sad one would crop up. Just the same, they were enjoying their little exploration.

Al reached up and turned a door knob and opened a closet door that he had never been allowed into when he was a child. Trisha looked up from what she was doing and said, "Alphonse, don't...oh wait, you're sixteen, aren't you? I suppose that you know better than to damage anything in that closet." She laughed at herself and at the predicament, and then continued with the work she was doing. This whole soul age thing would take a while to get used to.

"Look, Brother!" Al exclaimed as he reached into the closet. He pulled out what looked like a case for some sort of small stringed instrument. Eagerly, he flipped open the case. "Just as I thought, it's a violin!"

Ed turned and looked at Trisha, who was smiling at them. "Mom, do you play the violin?"

She smiled. "No, that's your father's. He used to play from time to time. He tried to teach me at one time, but I really don't have the knack." Ed scowled at the mention of his father, but shrugged it off, as he didn't want to make his mother sad.

Al ran his fingers along the contours of the instrument. "This is a high quality violin. The strings need to be replaced, but that's all. If I could find some new strings for the violin itself as well as the bow, I could try to play something on it...even though it'll be a little difficult in this small body." Ed stifled a laugh. Finally, someone was calling themselves small, and not directing it at him.

"I think I have some extra strings around here somewhere," said Trisha, walking over to the closet and rustling through a bunch of things in one of the boxes. "Your father always tried to keep extras around, just in case." Soon she had produced the afore mentioned strings, and handed them to Al to do with them as he willed, though she stood nearby and kept watch. She knew that these kids were sixteen and seventeen, but, well...one just never stops being a mother.

Al quickly replaced all the strings, and then held the violin under his chin. Indeed, it was a little big for him, considering his current size, but he was good enough at the violin that he figured he could pull it off if the piece wasn't too complicated. He began tuning up the strings and said, "What should I play, Brother?"

Ed thought for a second. "Play that one that you played at Winry's birthday last year."

Al smiled. "I'll only play that one if you'll sing."

"Why should I sing?" he said, stressing the "I".

"Because," he said, "I won't be able to sing and play this huge violin at the same time. Besides, YOU'RE the one that wrote the song."

Trisha knelt down on the floor. "I've really got to hear this then, if you've actually written it."

Ed realized that he was beaten. "Fine, I'll try to sing along, but don't expect it to be too good. I wasn't that great of a singer when I was this age," he said with a gesture indicating the body he was currently in.

"Oh, you'll do fine," Al said, waving the bow at him. "Now come on, 1, 2, 3..."

Al started playing the violin. One could tell that it wasn't an easy task for him, but he managed just fine. He was quite good. The piece he was playing started to sound like it had a Celtic flair to it. Trisha smiled. Her boys wrote this? They were quite good so far, from what she could see.

Finally, it came time for Ed to sing. He cleared his throat and began.

"A young man started on a journey.

He can't go back.

He can't go back.

His goal is still before him, he must

Stay on the track.

Stay on the track.

Another man tells him he's a fool.

He doesn't budge.

He doesn't budge.

He tells the man he doesn't understand.

He mustn't judge.

He mustn't judge.

Love knows no bounds when it's put to the test.

Until it meets its ends, it cannot rest.

When all else is broken, it will not break,

For it gives itself for its loved one's sake.

He approached the man with a gleam in his eye.

He took the stand.

He took the stand.

There was something that he had to have,

The maiden's hand.

The maiden's hand.

The man glared and told him to leave.

He had no worth.

He had no worth.

His family was a worthy one,

Of noble birth.

Of noble birth.

Love knows no bounds when it's put to the test.

Until it meets its ends, it cannot rest.

When all else is broken, it will not break,

For it gives itself for its loved one's sake.

The young man knelt in front of the father.

What can I do?

What can I do?

Is there any action I can perform

To convince you?

To convince you?"

Suddenly, Al broke into a musical interlude with a very active tone to it. "Come on, Brother, go for it!" He said. Ed shrugged, and stood up. Holding his arms down tightly by his sides, he began kicking his feet into the air as he danced around the room. He hopped a few times, kicked, hopped, kicked, spun around, and then came back the other way, all the while holding his arms down at his sides. This was an interesting dance form, as it didn't require the use of his arms at all. Trisha noted with interest the fact that some of the moves required Ed to dance on his toes using very complex movements. Wow, her children were sure going to grow up to be quite intelligent, to be able to pull off moves like that. It was too bad that she wasn't going to live to see it, but at least she got the opportunity to see it now.

"The man pointed to the door 'Go away, I have

No words for you.

No words for you.

You are unworthy of my daughter. There is

Nothing you can do.

Nothing you can do.'

The young man left with tears in his eyes.

I will be back.

I will be back.

I can never stop trying. I have to

Stay on the track.

Stay on the track.

Love knows no bounds when it's put to the test.

Until it meets its ends, it cannot rest.

When all else is broken, it will not break,

For it gives itself for its loved one's sake.

Several years went by without any success.

He did not rest.

He did not rest.

The young maid tried to plead with her father.

She was distressed.

She was distressed.

She went to throw herself into the well.

Her pain would drown.

Her pain would drown.

But he showed, and in saving her, lost his grip.

He was pulled down.

He was pulled down.

Love knows no bounds when it's put to the test.

Until it meets its ends, it cannot rest.

When all else is broken, it will not break,

For it gives itself for its loved one's sake.

The maiden grieved her heart sore.

Her love was gone.

Her love was gone.

How could anyone expect of her

To carry on?

To carry on?

But through her despair, she heard his voice,

Do not go back.

Do not go back.

It warned her gently yet sternly

Stay on the track.

Stay on the track.

Love knows no bounds when it's put to the test.

Until it meets its ends, it cannot rest.

When all else is broken, it will not break,

For it gives itself for its loved one's sake."

Another musical interlude, accompanied by more dancing soon ensued. Ed got even more elaborate this time, since he was starting to get used to dancing in this little body. Hop, hop, kick, twirl, hop, hop, kick. All the while, he continued to keep his arms at his sides while Al faithfully played away at his violin. Finally, Al finished with one drawn out note, and Ed landed squarely with both feet on the ground, arms at his sides, and face downward.

Trisha stood up and began clapping frantically. That had been quite a performance! She was so impressed that her children, HER children could pull off such a feat. Ed and Al turned and looked at each other, laughed a little bit, and then simultaneously bowed to their mother as any great musician would have done after just finishing a performance. This gave Trisha the giggles, and she leapt at the two boys and held them close to her in a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of who you've become," she said, "I only wish that I could see you get there. I wish more than anything that I could watch the two of you grow up."

Edward stepped back a couple steps, placed his hands on his mother's shoulders, and looked her squarely in the eyes. "Mom," he said, "If there's one thing that I've learned in all my seventeen years, it's that you have to be satisfied with what you have, because everything in life will cost you something, making most of your dreams turn into nightmares." He paused a moment to think, and then spoke again. "It's like that old saying: Be careful what you wish you...you just might get it."

**_Ed:...the Colonel annoys me, my teacher annoys me, Major Armstrong annoys me..._**

Me: (Grabs the computer out of Ed's hands) I think that you've been ranting about all the little annoyances in your life quite long enough!

Ed: But I wasn't done yet!

Me: (Rolls eyes) Anyway, leave me some reviews so that Sakura-chan will update!

Ed: Oh, that annoys me too...people that call themselves "chan" when they aren't even Japanese!

Me: Shut up, will you? (Raises fist in the air. Ed cowers in fear) Anyway, please leave me some reviews, and we'll see you back here soon.


	20. Chapter 20

Yes, an update! Finally, right? Well, any way, I hope you enjoy this. I lost the disk I keep my stories on so I had to retype some of MITAB. Sigh. Oh well, enjoy anyway.

Disclaimer…

Operation Abduct FMA Characters With A Vacuum, Operation Kidnap Minor Characters, Operation Shrimp Buffet, and Operation Knock Out Owner And Steal The Rights To Fullmetal Alchemist all failed… So, um, no, I have yet to own FMA. Sigh. But I am working on yet another plan, don't worry!

"I can't believe this," Alphonse whispered as he cuddled up in a bed he hadn't slept in for years. He was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, listening to the night's gentle music. Edward, who was in the bed to Al's left side, hands behind his head on the white pillow, whispered back, "I know what you mean." They turned to look at each other. A moment of silence went by. They were both thinking the same thing.

"Brother…"

"What, Al?" Edward asked, turning away from his little brother to stare back at the ceiling. He concentrated on an indent he had made with a slingshot when he was four. Alphonse talked in a hushed urgency.

"Is there any way we can fix things? I mean… maybe we can save Mom." Alphonse paused, pain resonating in his heart. Edward noticed his hesitance and glanced over at him. Good, no tears yet. Alphonse breathed deeply before continuing, "At least, if we can't save Mom, we could at least stop  
ourselves from the transmutation."

Edward stiffened. He had thought about it, of course, but was it really possible? His shoulders sagged a bit and his golden eyes shut lightly. He wasn't ready to sleep by any means, but Edward didn't feel like looking at Alphonse. That body, the one they had lost and fought so hard to get back was just a yard away in a warm, comfy bed, blanketed in moonlight. It was nearly impossible to believe in just a  
matter of years that body would be locked tightly inside The Gate. Mom would be gone, Al would hardly be able to call himself human, and they'd burn down their home, leaving behind everything to search for a myth.

It would be his entire fault, too. Edward clenched his teeth together and shut his eyes so hard that the tears yearning to show themselves were locked tightly away. Edward strained to push away the memories that scrambled to make him sob. Alphonse propped himself up on his elbow, watching his brother for a moment. He had changed so much, no doubt about it. His older brother's face had  
become so saddened, so pained, yet determined and begging to be able to keep some of his childish innocence. Yet now, looking at the five year old version of Edward, he had to wonder how that had even been possible. What had happened to them? Here they were in four and five year old bodies, in a  
time their souls didn't belong, wondering what they were to do. There were no way these were the same bodies destined to become a suit of armor and a cripple. Not to mention the whole android thing that would someday come. Was there any way to prevent things from going from bad to worse? Alphonse sighed. If they tried there was no telling what could happen.

"Alphonse," Edward mumbled, opening his eyes half way. Without moving from his position on his back, he looked over at Alphonse. He maneuvered his right hand through his hair, pulling it back to see his brother. Alphonse, still propped up on his elbow, blinked out of his thoughts. He gave Edward  
his full attention. "What do you think would happen… if we tried to stop things from turning out like they did?"

"I…" Alphonse faltered. What would happen? Would everything be rewritten in their world? "I'm not sure, brother."

"Darn," Edward grinned slightly at Alphonse, "I was hoping you would know." Alphonse smiled back.

"I thought the older brother was supposed to be all knowing. What happened? Do I get to be the older brother now?"

"Not on your life." Edward snorted. Alphonse laughed quietly. Edward shrugged, closing his eyes again, saying, "Give me some credit. I just went back twelve birthdays."

"And half an inch," Alphonse joked in a whisper to himself.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Edward shouted, sitting straight up in bed, a glare plastered over his previously calm face. Alphonse squeaked in surprise as Edward pounced from his own bed and onto Alphonse's. The force of the jump nearly landed the younger brother out of bed. Edward, even though he was in a much younger body, was able to control himself from falling.

"Br-brother, I was o-only kidding!" Alphonse claimed, waving his hands back and forth in defense. Edward wasn't convinced.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE WASN'T ABLE TO GROW MORE THAN AN INCH  
IN OVER AN ENTIRE DECADE!!!" Edward screamed, grabbing a pillow and hitting Alphonse with it. Alphonse found himself laughing as he ran from the thrashing to grab his older brother's pillow. Edward hopped over from Alphonse's bed to the floor and ran up to his little brother. They began to  
hit each other with the softy goodness of the same pillows that had burned to ash by their own doing. But they weren't thinking of that right now. No, right now they were just enjoying a pleasure of play they had long since been denied. Edward cackled almost evilly as he and Alphonse ran from the  
beds to the stacks of books that lined the wall under the window. Alphonse was backed against the wall, blocking with the pillow. Edward, seeing that his little brother was in the defense, tore the shield away and began a two on one attack. Alphonse grasped the nearest book and used that instead. A  
strong blow hit Alphonse, making his tiny fingers lose their grip on the book. It fell to the floor, sliding away on the smooth wood. Edward and Alphonse stopped laughing. Something had fallen from the book. Edward dropped the pillows and walked over towards the literature. He bent down with Alphonse standing wordlessly behind him and picked up a piece of paper.  
Hohenhiem's notes…

The brothers turned to each other. Alphonse murmured, his gray eyes pleading, "Should we tell Mom what happened?" Edward stared back at his brother. He shook his head no. Even now, there were some things better left unchanged. After all, they didn't know how Trisha would handle the truth about a man she was going to die waiting for.

Outside the window, a crow flew off. The crow took off higher and higher into the black sky speckled with beaming stars and little puffs of clouds masking the moon. Its wings sent it sailing it over the hills and trees of Resembool until it spotted yet another house. It slowly descended. The corn colored toes of the crow made contact with the roof. It carefully made its way to the ledge of the house's top before  
swooping down to a particular window. When it was securely in place on the windowsill it peeked passed the glass and into a bedroom. Winry was sitting at the end of her bed, a doll with a pink dress, big brown eyes, and chestnut hair resting in her small hands. The little girl giggled, pretending the doll was dancing or something. Suddenly she stopped and turned to look towards the door. It opened, revealing a beautiful young woman with brownish blonde hair back in a low ponytail, similar to Trisha. The crow regarded them as the woman sat down next to Winry. That must be Mrs. Rockbell.

The mother smiled at her child, who smiled back and said something while showing her mother the doll. She nodded and spoke with a smile on her red lips. Winry giggled again. The mother and daughter hugged before the mother got up and went over to the shelf across the room.

The door opened again and a man came in. He looked tired, but happy, and his hair was darker than his wife's, though his eyes were the same color as Winry's. Mr. Rockbell, no doubt. He crossed his arms and looked sternly at his child. She said something that made him grin. He rushed forward, taking Winry in his arms, and lifted her from the bed. He raised her above his head and then went around in a circle twice, nearly knocking down a family portrait with Winry's feet. The mother returned just as the man rested his joyous daughter in bed. The lamp that rested on the nightstand next to  
Winry's bed gave light to the mother as she opened a thick book and began to read.

The father noticed the crow as the mother went into the story, making Winry clutch her doll with anticipation. He went over to the window and glared out at the crow. The bird glared back. He blinked, becoming very interested in the thing's legs. After a moment he frowned deeply and lightly tapped the  
window, shooing away the dreaded black bird. The crow flapped its wings and went back above the house, circling it. The crow watched only an instant longer before flying back off into the night.

After a few more minutes of flying the crow rested itself atop a grave stone in the cemetery. The moon was directly overhead as it looked around. "What a bother." It croaked in the still air of the dead. Soon after the words left its mouth the crow's body morphed into that of the homunculus Envy. His long black hair enclosed his face as he walked through the graveyard. Envy stopped before a patch of grass. A smile curled on his lips, making his face look shadowed and malevolent in the moonlight.  
"Looks like I'm going to have to fill this empty space." He turned away from the dewing grass. His violent violet eyes passed over the Resembool landscape, lingering in the direction of the Rockbells' and Elrics'. His smile became deeper and more wicked as he said, "Wouldn't want it to go to waste."

Trisha sat in the cushioned chair in the living room, a cup of coffee in her hands. She was gazing at the case of the violin in almost a daze. Hohenheim had often played it for her when they were dating. After Edward had been born, he sometimes played it so that the newborn would fall to sleep easier.  
But, when Alphonse had been born, he had almost abandoned it all together. Her husband fell deep into his work. Sometimes she wondered if he would drown himself studying. But, no, he hadn't died in his books. He had left. Trisha blinked, suddenly aware that tears were lingering on her cheeks. She  
wiped them away, glad neither Edward nor Alphonse had seen her. She stopped mid thought. They probably already knew that she cried alone. They probably knew a lot about her that she had hoped to keep secret till they were much, much older. Of course, they were older now.

She sighed. Trisha loved her boys dearly, no matter their age or circumstances. But worry still claimed her. What had happened to her boys that caused them to be like this? What had happened to her that had taken her life? Trisha's grip tightened around the mug of coffee. Ed and Al would be without a mother in a matter of years.

More tears fell. Trisha wiped them away quickly, though they still came again and again. How could she leave them? Yes, Trisha believed in fate, but she wanted nothing more than to be forever with he boys. Something had changed them. Something huge that she most likely wasn't to know about had  
happened, changing her innocent baby boys into old men far too early. Of course, she had heard them whispering last night… yet she could not make heads or tails of it.

Trisha took a sip of coffee. She didn't like the taste, but it kept her awake. She sighed again. Trisha turned to peer out the window, watching the wind tickle the leaves and push forward the puffy white clouds in the blue sky. As she was doing this, a figure could be seen far off on the path that led around Resembool. Trisha watched as the figure came closer and closer. Abruptly, she recognized who it was.

"H-Hohenhiem…!" She cried. The mug fell to the floor, shattering and spilling the brown liquid. It didn't still her at all. Trisha was out of the room in a flash, careful not to trip over anything. She flung open the door and stepped outside. She was in her normal attire, though her hair was down and she hadn't bothered with any make-up yet that morning. A blanket she had been sitting in with her coffee was still resting on her shoulders. She felt she looked a mess and was a bit embarrassed. But, still, seeing the man she loved made all that fall away.

Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse were getting up. Alphonse stifled a yawn as he finished making his bed. He stilled a second, hands wavering over the sheets. Did he normally make his bed in the morning when he was last four? No, but he had always wanted to go back and be the best child he could be. This was his chance; he was going to take it.

Edward, however, had already made his bed and was finishing putting the alchemy books in order along a shelf he could reach only on stool. Alphonse watched as Edward placed the last book in its spot. He grinned, saying, "You don't see many five year olds doing that."

"What?" Edward inquired, looking down at Alphonse from his newly acquired height, "Do you mean my being so brilliant?"

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Sure, brother, whatever you say." He said, patting the blankets so that there were no creases. Edward leapt from the stool and to the floor. He turned to Alphonse, who had his back to him, and asked if he should go make breakfast for everyone. Alphonse replied he could only if he didn't try alchemy again. Edward grimaced. That had been the worst Mother's Day ever.

"Don't be stupid, Al," Edward huffed, walking from the stool towards the doorway, "That fiasco is three years away from now!" Before Alphonse could reply Edward had left the room. The younger shook his head, mumbling something about living waffles and exploding orange slices under his breath. Edward walked down the hall to the living room in a white t-shirt, tan shorts, and socks. It felt strange not to be covered in red and black. But, none the less, it was strangely refreshing. As Edward was thinking he  
entered the living room. A gentle, sweet breeze brushed against his cheek from the open window. The room smelled of coffee and mixed with the scent of flowers.  
So beautiful…

When they had really been this age, Edward would sometimes get up and just linger in the sweet aroma. Edward smiled. He guessed some things never changed. Edward stood a moment longer before deciding he'd better go and fix breakfast now. Hopefully, his mom was still in bed so that she wouldn't spot him trying to cook for her and Al.

Suddenly, as he walked, a surge of pain shot upward from his left foot and seemed to electrocute his entire body with agony. Edward stumbled back on one foot, trying to grab the inflicted area. He fell on his butt, left foot in his hands. Edward was fighting the urge to scream like the child he was as he gawked at the slit just under his heel. Blood was streaming from the cut and staining the floor. Edward shook as his eyes traced the trail of blood to the sharp, shattered remains of his mother's favorite mug. The red of his blood mixed with the brown coffee, making a sickly concoction that added to the revolt in his stomach.

His mind swam in fear, nearly drowning him in the process. Mom… Something's wrong! Why is her mug broken? Did something happen? Something happened… Al! Mom! What's going on? Edward forced himself up onto his feet and calmed his mind. He needed to find his mother, of course, but  
he couldn't do so if he was bleeding to death. He couldn't remember if the bottom of his foot had held a scar or not, so there was no way for him to tell how bad it was other than the large amount of bleeding that was going on.

He slowly made his way to the nearest couch and hesitantly grabbed hold of the thin blanket lying there. Edward tenderly wrapped it around his foot and tested it out. He hoped his mother wouldn't be upset with him.

After checking the kitchen and her bedroom, Edward decided to look outside. He wanted to tell Alphonse, but really didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing. Besides, Alphonse would probably just overreact to his foot and make a scene. Edward sighed. Little brothers…

Once he was outside the fresh air relaxed him a little. The sky was mostly blue, aside from the occasional cloud or bird. The grass was moist with dew as he hobbled and limped around the house. She wasn't in the immediate area, so Edward took off down the often traveled dirt path. He let a faint smile rest on his pain face. It was good to be home, Edward admitted, even if he was hurt. It hadn't even been five minutes before he had to stop and rest his bad foot. He strayed a little ways away from the path and plopped down onto the green grass.

His eyes wandered over the lush landscape of Resembool. The grass seemed to sparkle as the wind danced with the leaves of the trees and ripples of the rivers. Over some distance Edward was able to see people working in the fields. To his left he could see a couple watching cows (though he never  
understood why people could ever have any affection for those vile creatures aside from the benefits of steak) over a half painted fence. Some classmates of his were playing along the river. Edward felt a warm sensation make its way through the tangles of emotions. It made him feel a little better to  
just sit down and view his hometown, though he felt a bit of regret for not looking for his mother. The warmth was gone instantly, however, as his golden eyes spotted something, or someone, coming up the hill towards him. His mother wore no makeup and had her hair down, but still managed to be  
breathtaking. That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing was that she was sobbing into someone's chest. Edward looked up to see who she happened to be crying on. His stomach twisted into a knot and he was sure his heart had skipped a beat or two when he saw. The man's face leaned  
towards Trisha as his long, blonde hair weaved in the wind. His golden eyes, identical in color to Edward's, gazed through thin spectacles at Trisha's dripping face. He wore a long, brown trench coat with a black vest and blue tie underneath. His black clothed legs and plain dress shoes seemed to be  
struggling to support both him and Trisha. Edward could only stare at them.  
What was going on, he asked himself over and over.

And then, as if he could feel the child's eyes on him, Hohenheim peered up the hill to his son. Edward stared back. His head was becoming dizzy for some reason. It was hard to keep his eyes open but he managed to. Hohenheim's face broke into a grin and he quickly whispered to Trisha. Edward watched through glazed eyes as she too looked up and spotted him. Breathing hard, he managed to wonder what was happening. Had his father- no, that man- really come back home? Was he just in another time while that man stopped by and that's why it had never seen him?

"Edward!" The man shouted. Edward blinked. It was getting harder and harder to see now and he was beginning to lose the ability to think straight. "Come here, Edward!" His mother called. Edward couldn't figure out how to stand up even if he had wanted to greet that man. Trisha was the first to notice and broke away from Hohenheim in order to see what was wrong with Edward. His head was spinning and the world around him was nothing more than a blur of color and sounds. So sleepy was he that Edward barely felt the damp earth as he slowly fell onto his back. He strangely felt grateful for sleep as the worried voices of his mother and that man echoed dimly in his ears.

"Oh dear," she said into the phone, "is Ed alright?"

"He should be. Hohenheim went into town to get some more bandages." Trisha replied with a shaky voice. She stood in the kitchen, gripping the phone with both hands as if her life depended on it. On the other side of the line Mrs. Rockbell stopped halfway through brushing her bangs from her eyes.  
Trisha noticed the long silence and asked, "Sarah, are you still there?"

"Y-Yes!" came the reply. She paused for a second, tightening her grip on the arm of the sofa, before continuing, "He… He's really home?"

"Yes, he is!" Trisha answered, tears threatening to make an escape from her eyes. She was shaking, trying to control herself from breaking down. She was so happy now. Of course, she was terribly upset Edward had hurt himself because of her, but still so happy.

"Oh, Trisha, I'm so happy for you!" Mrs. Rockbell said, also beginning to shake in joy from the news. Trisha was a good friend and they had often talked about Hohenheim. Hearing that he was home was amazing. A dream come true, if you will. "How is he?" she inquired, smiling, feeling almost giddy.  
When Trisha didn't reply right away, Mrs.Rockbell gave the phone an odd look. She asked if Trisha was okay and if she needed to come over.

"No, don't worry… It's just…" Trisha furrowed her eyebrows and tensed up a bit, "Just… He…" Trisha faltered, unable to go on. It sounded so ridiculous. It had to be her imagination!

"What? What's happened to him?" The familiar voice brought Trisha back to earth. She bit her lip and contemplated the perfect way to tell her friend. In the end Trisha settled on the bluntest way she could think of.

"It's odd. Hohenheim looks exactly the same as he did when he left for his research." There. She'd said it.

Mrs. Rockbell nearly dropped the phone. "What do you mean by that?" "Just how it sounds… He looks the same. His hair hasn't even grown any longer!" Then Trisha added, "I feel so old around him now." They both let out a little laugh at that, though half-hearted.

"Trisha, that is weird." Mrs. Rockbell muttered, her brain already working on an answer, if any. She smiled, her blue eyes empathic towards Trisha, and said, "Maybe he dyed his hair so the gray wouldn't show?" Trisha shook her head, only to realize her friend couldn't see her, and said unsurely,

"No. It's more than his hair. He just …"

"Mom?" a faint voice said in a whimper. Trisha looked over her shoulder at her youngest son. He was looking up at her with almost pleading eyes, making the mother's heart melt. She held up a finger to tell him to wait just a second before turning back to her conversation.

"Sarah, I'll call you later, all right?" Trisha said. Mrs. Rockbell agreed and told her she was willing to come over at anytime to talk. They said a quick goodbye and Trisha hung up the phone. She turned to Alphonse and asked what the matter was. He looked indecisive for a minute.

"Honey," Trisha cooed, placing a warm hand on her child's shoulder, "you know you can tell me anything, right?" Alphonse nodded reluctantly and fidgeted with his hands. After another moment of silence he whispered, "Brother told me," Alphonse regarded his mother's face and changed his mind  
about asking her. As much as he hoped his brother was wrong, one look at her face told him his father was indeed home. Thinking fast, he finished with, "to ask you for something to drink."

There was a knock on the door of the Rockbells'. The hand repeated the gesture several more times until, finally, Pinako answered the door, an annoyed look on her face. Halfway through murmuring about the knocker's rudeness, she stopped dead as her eyes landed on the man. Her mouth opened,  
closed, and opened again before she finally croaked out,

"Samuel! My God, what are you doing here? I- I thought you were in Ishbal!" The tall man smirked at Pinako, saying sarcastically,

"Heh, sorry mom, didn't know it was against the law to stop in once in a while." Pinako smirked back and swung the door wide open so he could enter. Over her shoulder she hollered,

"Winry, someone came to visit! Come see who it is!" There was the sound of feet from upstairs above their heads. The next moment Winry was coming around the corner.

"Granny, who…?" Winry stopped and stared at the man, mouth agape. He was tall with brownish blonde hair that was beginning to thin into an ever growing bald spot at the front of his head. His eyes were a warm brown and his strongly built body had a tan from the sun. He wore a simple green shirt  
and old jacket with a button missing from it. His pants were baggy and his sandaled feet were dirty from walking the dirt roads of Resembool. Samuel beamed and nodded to the little girl. It was an odd greeting, but it only stalled her from the answer for a second. Winry's mouth quickly transformed into a huge smile and she practically flew at the man when she recognized him.

"Uncle Sammy!" She exclaimed before jumping into his muscular arms. He held her a moment before taking her by the shoulders and scooting her back to get a good look at her.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, "I'm here looking for a little girl by the name of Winry. Have you seen her?" She giggled and shook her head.

"No. Have you seen someone named Uncle Sammy? I can't find him."

"Sorry," the tall man shook his head, trying to keep a serious look on hisface, "I haven't. Though I'm sure he must be quite a handsome fellow, probably the envy of the region." Winry tilted her head, as if thinking on some extremely difficult math question before answering,

"Not really. You're prettier." With that they both broke out laughing. Pinako smiled and shook her head. By now Den had wandered in with Winry's parents in tow. Mrs. Rockbell's face lit up at the sight of her  
brother-in-law. Mr. Rockbell smiled too, but seemed a bit confused.

"Hello. Long time no see… wish it were longer, brother." Samuel greeted with a smirk. Mr. Rockbell grinned mockingly,

"I know what you mean. If you stay around too long your face will give Winry nightmares." When he had finished the sentence the brothers both chuckled, leaving Winry wondering what was going on. Then, with a more serious tone, Samuel whispered into his brother's ear,

"I need to talk to you and Sarah in private." Mr. Rockbell nodded grimly at the sound of urgency in the tall man's voice. After a short conversation Winry was sent outside to play for awhile. Though she didn't want to, her uncle managed to sway her, saying he'd play with her later if she did so.  
The adults sat around in the kitchen in a still silence. Den, who was huddling in the far corner of the kitchen, let out a low growl. Samuel refused to meet any of the stares at first, and instead folded his hands and shut his eyes for a moment, as if in prayer. He sighed, opened his eyes, and  
gave Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell a stern look. His eyes seemed as if they had changed in the short moment he had had them closed, but it was hard to tell just what was different. Then, with a cold but inquiring voice, Samuel asked, "Have you heard about Ishbal?"

Alphonse handed the glass of water to Edward, who took it and gulped it down as quickly as possible. He gave his brother a disapproving look as water spilt from the glass, down Edward's chin, and onto the bed sheets. When the older brother had finished he leaned back in bed and closed his eyes.  
Alphonse, who was sitting across from Edward on his own bed, watched the slow rise and fall of his brother's chest. Could Hohenheim really be home? Alphonse leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. What an odd day.

"Brother, are you awake?" He said hopefully after a short while. When nothing but the sound of slow breathing and the song of chirping birds just outside the draped window reached his ears Alphonse sighed. His brother sure could sleep a lot. But, of course, he was hurt now.

Alphonse sat up and waited to see if Edward was just fooling around with him. Shaking his head, he got up and left the room, whispering more to himself than his brother that he'd be right back.

The air was crisp and it filled his nose with wonderful scents of flowers as he walked farther and farther from his house. He let his mind wander with every hill and tree he saw. While he was peacefully daydreaming he heard a sound. It surprised him until he saw what it was coming from.  
"Al!" Winry cried, her eyes beaming at the sight of him, "Let's play together!" She jogged up to him happily and grabbed him by the wrist. With a smile she dragged him in the direction of the Rockbell house. He didn't really protest. He needed to ease his mind. Even daydreaming led to unwanted  
thoughts. By this time Alphonse realized that Winry was chattering excitedly, occasionally peeking over her shoulder to view his reaction. Now they had stopped and she was giving him a look of hurt and confusion rolled into one.

"Oh, um," Alphonse blushed, "sorry Winry. What did you say?" She frowned at him but repeated,

"Uncle Sammy is here and you don't even care." She let go of his wrist and crossed her arms. He flinched at her glare. Thank God she wouldn't discover the wonders of the wrench for a few more years.

"Uncle… Sammy?" Alphonse said the name, trying to remember if he remembered ever meeting this man.

"You remember him, don't you?" Winry asked, suddenly looking worried. Alphonse couldn't remember even if his life depended on it. He nodded, a forced smile on his face, saying,

"Of course I do! He's your Uncle, right?"

"I knew you remembered him!" Winry squealed joyfully, clapping her hands together. "Come on," she took his wrist again, "let's go see him!" Al followed, since he really didn't have a choice in the matter. After a few more hills he spotted the Rockbell house. On the porch was a man, probably Uncle Sammy. Alphonse barely was able to recognize him from a picture that still hung in Winry's room back in his time.

"Winry…!" Somebody called. The little girl stopped, Alphonse nearly running into her from behind, and turned away from the house. She let go of Alphonse's wrist, which was starting to hurt from the constant pull. She went over to the fence that bordered one side of the path the two were  
running on and waved at someone her age working in the fields with a group of cows. Alphonse turned away from the little greeters and back towards the house. He could see Uncle Sammy walking away from the Rockbell house now. He didn't seem to notice the children as he avoided the path, heading towards –though Alphonse wasn't sure if he was imagining it- the Elric home. Then the form of Winry's uncle twisted and light burst from the bottom of his shoes to the top of his head. Alphonse held his breath as the figure of Hohenheim Elric walked away from the Rockbell house and into the hilled  
landscape of Resembool.

"What's wrong?" Winry's childish voice broke the trance Alphonse had been in. He swerved his head to look at her. She hadn't seen that too, had she? When Alphonse didn't say a word Winry started to look worried again. "Hey, are you feeling sick?" She held her hands up as though she was going to lay  
them on his shoulders. She didn't move them any closer, however, and merely watched Alphonse unsurely.

"Winry," Alphonse breathed, gray eyes shocked. Could he tell her?

"What is it?" She asked, this time more franticly. "Do you need to lie down?" He shook his head, saying,

"No, it's nothing. Sorry for worrying you." He turned his face away from Winry so she couldn't see his expression. Alphonse forced his voice calm, though there was still some shake, and said, "Come on, let's go." With that he began to stroll down to the large, yellow house on unsteady legs. Winry furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms angrily.

"Boys…!" She huffed under her breath before taking off after him.

**_Phew! Sakura-chan, the longer your chapters are, the longer they take to edit, hehe. This one took me over an hour. Oh well, it was still worth it. Quite an awesome chapter if I must say so myself. Now if only we could get the e-mail to not mess it up...oh well, hehe. I'll try to update my chapter for this soon. Thanks for the update._**

**_And you readers, review, got it? Hehehe_**


	21. Chapter 21

**_I'm ALIIIIIIIVEEEE!!!! Yes, believe it or not, I still exist somewhere on this blue sphere called Earth. I haven't figured out how to teleport to other dimensions yet, so I'm still here for the time being, hehe. Astral Projection is about as far as I've gotten...though that in and of itself is pretty good, hehe, but you don't get to stay wherever you go, which kinda sucks. ;) Sorry that this chapter is so short compared with the others that have been recently, but hey, I updated! Be happy! Hehe. Hopefully I've finally gotten over my writer's slump and will be updating my fics again. Really, really, really hope, hehe._**

**_Disclaimer: Let's see, as a test of whether I've gotten over my writer's slump, I should see if I can come up with a creative disclaimer. If I can, I've passed the test and have gotten over it. Blah blah bloggidy blah. In Googish, that means, "I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist." Now grab your hatchets and join me while we go hunt Googs. ((Gotta hunt them with hatchets for some reason. They get too mad to get caught if you use anything else. Thankfully you don't have to actually hit them with the hatchet. As soon as they see it in your hand, they fall down on their knees, begging for mercy. Googs are so easy to catch when you have the right equipment.)) How's that? Did I get my writerly writingness back?_**

"Ow! Hey, stop pushing!" Winry grimaced as she looked over at the body that currently housed both little Ed and little Al. She wasn't totally sure which one had said that, but it didn't seem to really matter all that much anyway. They were obviously having a hard time adapting to sharing a body between them, and the sooner things were restored to normal, the better. Things would be restored to normal, right? Winry shook her head and mentally chastised herself for worrying. Of course things would go back to the way they were. The boys were experiencing some sort of time loop somehow, and if they were to grow up, which they had already done, things would have to return to the way they were.

"Try to be nice to each other, you two," Winry scolded gently.

"But he's pushing me!" said one of the boys, Winry was still unsure of which one.

"That's because there isn't enough space in that body for the two of you to be comfortable," said Winry, patiently, "He can't help it."

"Then why can't I have my body back?"

"Which body?" said Winry, trying to keep up, "The little body you left?"

"No!" said the boy, "The robot one."

Okay, that answered the question of who she was talking to at least. She moistened her lips and took a slow breath, trying to figure out exactly how to answer that question in a way a child could understand.

"Um…remember those bad people I told you about?" Al/Ed nodded. "They…They stole your body."

"THEY STOLE MY BODY?" Ed yelled.

Winry pressed her hands to her ears until Ed was done shouting. Apparently his mother hadn't trained the childish screeching out of him yet. Then again, he WAS only five, but it didn't make the habit any less annoying, especially since being in an adult body at present, he had an adult voice.

"Yes..." Winry said cautiously in an attempt to stave off further outbursts, "And…they've got Granny too."

"WHA-" Ed began to shout again, but this time Winry was faster than him and was able to slap her hand over his mouth.

"Hush! We're going to get her and your body back, but we need a plan, and to make a plan, we need to get somewhere safe."

"Okay," said Al/Ed resignedly, so much so that Winry was once again unsure of who she was talking to, but once again, it didn't really matter.

* * *

"Al, something's going on here, and I don't like it." 

"I realize that, Brother," Al turned to face his older brother, who still had the appearance of a five-year-old, "But what can we do about it in these bodies? We're kind of helpless, don't you think? Besides, we know how everything turns out, so why worry? We're going to survive whatever's going on."

"Are we?" said Ed, more as a statement than a question.

Al regarded his brother a little more closely. "What are you getting at, Brother?"

Ed sighed and shook his head, and then proceeded to place his hands on his hips. "We know how things will turn out in the here and now, our past, because we've already lived it…but…well…when Envy suddenly showed up…"

Al's eyes widened as the truth suddenly dawned on him. "Our past is assured, but our future is not."

Ed nodded silently and turned away from Al to stare out the window. A couple children were off playing in the distance, no doubt hoping that he and Al would see them and come and join the fun, but the boys had more pressing issues on their minds at present, past, whatever it was.

"Brother?" Al interrupted the silence and caused Ed to turn back to face him and lift and eyebrow in response. "Do you think…is it possible to change history?"

"Haven't we been over this already?"

Al shrugged. "Probably, but I'm wondering again."

The edge of Ed's mouth twitched a bit as he tried to contemplate an answer. "Even if it were, the repercussions of doing so would be severe…and you know very well that Mom wouldn't approve."

"Yeah, I know," Al sighed resignedly, "She's a strong believer in fate."

Ed put his hands behind his back and once again turned to face the window. The children were still out there, running and laughing like they hadn't a care in the world. "I've never really liked the idea of fate, personally. I don't like the thought that I might not be in control of my own destiny."

Al cleared his throat, which caused Ed to turn to look at him briefly, but Al just waved him off, so Ed turned back to his window. "What do you think, Al? Can the positions of the planets and stars and the lines on your palm really set in stone who you're going to be? What about all those innocent children who don't survive their first year of life? What about children like…Nina? Was fate playing a cruel trick on them? Were they just born to die?"

Al couldn't speak. He and his brother got into these philosophical mood periodically, so he was used to it, but this time, he had no words to say, so he just remained silent and allowed Ed to continue.

"And what about Mom? She never did anything wrong, and what reward does she get? Abandonment by her husband and an early grave. If fast is this evil, why do we even bother trying to live?"

Al finally found his voice. "But fate can be a good thing too…for some people."

"So it's all based on the luck of the draw," Ed sneered, "So what do we do, draw straws before we're born and pray that we don't get the short one? How is that justice to heap all the misfortunes onto the innocent?"

Both boys paused for a bit, wallowing in their thoughts. The children's laughter outside was beginning to get to Ed, so he grabbed a chair to use as a stool and closed the window, and then proceeded to pace back and forth once he was through with that.

"So…" said Al, once again breaking the monotonous silence, "What if fate didn't exist? What would happen then?"

"Everything that happened in life would be the direct result of our own actions. Innocent children would not accidentally lose their lives, it would be their own fault. It would also mean that Mom deliberately chose…or will choose…to die at the time she did. It would mean instant payback for all that we did."

"That sounds like what would more likely be the cause of some life scenarios," said Al.

"Yes, but the concept of fate is more believable for others, like if they were born into a hectic life, for instance, how can it be their fault?"

"I thought you didn't like the idea of fate, Brother."

"I don't," said Ed, "I'm just playing Devil's advocate."

Al smiled a tiny smile for a brief second, and then let go of it once again, since the current topic of discussion was too serious for a genuine smile anyway. "What if…" Al ventured, "What if…both were happening at once?"

"Both?"

"Yeah…you know, destiny and choice going hand in hand…It'd be like being dealt a hand of cards, and then you get to decide what to do with them."

Ed chuckled slightly and turned to look at Al. "You know, Al, that actually kind of makes sense. Some people would get good hands in life, while others get bad ones, but the hand you're dealt in life doesn't really determine your destiny…it's how good you are a playing the game that counts."

"So I guess that all of us Elrics have been dealt difficult hands, haven't we?" said Al.

"I guess," said Ed, "But we're pretty good card players for the most part."

Al laughed for the first time in awhile. "Oh, you are not, Brother, you always cheat!"

Ed stared to chuckle, when the grin was suddenly wiped from his face. He stood there motionlessly for a moment, and then slowly the grin came back into place, only taking on a very mischievous look this time. "Al…you're a genius!"

Al was taken aback at Ed's sudden mood swing. "I-I'm a genius? Why, what did I think of?"

The mischievous grin didn't waver a bit. "Al, go and fetch all the books on the bottom shelf of Dad's study and meet me out at the old shed."

"Heh, okay, but why?" asked Al.

Once again with the mischievous grin. "We're gonna cheat."

**_Anyway, leave me some reviews if you will, particularly if you wanna join me in hunting for some Googs. ((I have yet to find out what the little critters are useful for once you catch them, but they're fun to catch.)) Also, make sure to tell SakuraSagura to update soon. She's worse than me about waiting for months to update something, so if you want another chapter soon, you'll have to really encourage her strongly to do so. I suppose you could threaten her with a Goog, but I'm not sure if that's very threatening, hehe._**


	22. Chapter 22

_**We're starting this again since we finally found a new plot, but we've switched around so that I'm doing the even chapters and she's doing the odds. Go figure, but whatever it takes to write a story, right?**_

_**Disclaimer: We don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.  
**_

"How are we supposed to cheat, Brother?" Al lifted a couple of the heavy books Ed had requested with a grunt and handed them to him. "This isn't like something where you can just stick a card into your hand that you secretly had up your sleeve."

"No," said Ed under the weight of the books, "But who says we have to play by the rules? Haven't we broken them already by traveling back and forth through time?"

Al nodded. He was about to mention the human transmutation as an example of breaking rules, but figured he'd rather not see his brother's somber face in reaction to that. Neither of them needed to be reminded of the consequences of rule breaking when you didn't do it right. So he picked up a couple more heavy books and followed his brother.

At the old shed, the two boys put down their heavy books and panted until their energy was restored. They may have had teenage minds, but there was just no way to skirt around the issue of being in four and five year old bodies.

Ed then sat down and flipped open the first book he could grab and started reading. Al sat down too, but he hadn't a clue what he was supposed to do. This was Ed's idea, not his. He wished his brother would at least tell him what was going on so he could at least pretend to be helpful.

Al waited for several minutes while his brother skimmed through one book, and then another, seemingly looking for something, yet not revealing what it was he needed to know. Al opened his mouth to question his brother on this, when suddenly Ed burst out with a loud, "That's it!"

Al raised an eyebrow. "What's it?"

Ed placed the book down so that both of them could see it. "This," said Edward as he pointed to a design in the book, "is a special array used to find things that are lost and replace them where they ought to be. I would have to modify it somewhat to allow it to carry human souls, but I think we could get you back home that way."

"But it wouldn't work for you," said Al. "The blood seal on your android body got destroyed, and now that body has been stolen."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Stolen by the greedy military, no doubt." Al nodded, and so Ed let out a sigh. "Don't worry, Al, I'm coming up with plans on what to do with myself, but we need to get you home. Do you have any idea what trouble your four-year-old self could cause with your adult body?"

"Oh, geez," said Al, and he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "What about your five-year-old self? He's the reason you can't go back to that android body."

"I know," said Ed, "Kids do really stupid things, even if that kid is… was you. Maybe especially then."

Al chuckled slightly, but then grew all somber once again. "Where do you think your five-year-old self went off to? There was no body for him to return to, so I'm worried that…"

Ed interrupted him. "Don't worry so much. Our past is assured because we've lived it. Somehow my younger self gets back into this body. If he had nowhere else to go, he probably just followed younger you."

Al laughed. That sounded so ridiculous, but perhaps his brother didn't mean it the way it sounded. He would ask. "You made it sound almost like you were saying that the two were both sharing my body."

"I did," said Edward as he looked up from the book and at his brother. "My memories from that long ago are faint. I was so young when all this happened to me the first time. But that's what I think I remember. You and I were in a big person's body, cramped together and very uncomfortable."

"That's weird…"

Edward raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember it?"

Al shook his head. "No, I don't." He leaned backward and steadied himself with his hands. "Then again, I don't remember any of this the first time around. Except for all your robot talk."

Edward snorted and then went back to looking at his book. "Well, if I'm right and we use this circle, it will call to both the younger you and the older you and will make the switch. But since my younger self is also in your body, it might pull him out as well and bring him back. I dealt with having both of us in the same body at once before, but this circle looks like it's too powerful and precise to allow for that. I'll have to come up with an idea of where I can go."

Al rubbed at his chin. There had to be something they could do for his older brother. Just when he finally got him back was the last time he wanted to lose him for good. Al shook his head and shrugged. "We could bind your soul to something."

Edward made a look of disgust, and Al felt like he was shrinking to get away from his brother's scrutiny. He knew how much it sucked to have one's soul bound to an inanimate object, and that it was probably worse than death, but in the case of Al's being bound, he'd still had a body to return to, once they found it. His brother hadn't any body to return to. Maybe it was just cruel of him to have bound his brother's soul like that when he knew it would be permanent. There was no body to look for.

His brother softened his gaze. "Sorry, Al. I wasn't being angry at you for doing it. You did what you had to do. But soul-binding doesn't feel good, so I don't want to go down that path again."

Al nodded, but he wasn't exactly sure he felt better about the situation. If anything, he felt worse. He had suggested the only thing he knew that could possibly solve their dilemma, and his brother had slapped it away without a trial. He couldn't blame his brother, but now he felt worthless.

"Maybe I could try possessing something instead of being bound to it. What do you think, Al?"

What did he think? He thought it was a crazy notion. If it was possible to just possess something for a long period of time instead of being bound to it, then he would have surely done that. There was no way someone could do a long term possession and get away with it.

Edward stood up. "I'm going to try it. My soul's not very firmly planted in this body anyway." He walked over to where a pipe was standing against the wall and said, "Al, come here. I need you to catch me if I fall."

Al rolled his eyes and went after his brother. This whole thing was just stupid, but he would go along with it just long enough for his brother to realize that himself. He positioned himself just behind his brother, and Edward grabbed a hold of the pipe and closed his eyes.

They waited for several minutes and nothing happened. Al was starting to get impatient and tap his foot. When would be a good time to tell his brother to quit this? If it lasted much longer, he would have to say something. There was no point in going on if it wasn't working, right?

Ed began to moan and he staggered backward until he completely lost control and fell into Al's arms. Al panicked and took a few deep breaths to get his anxiety under control. He looked at his older brother. Ed's eyes were wide open, but there was no life in them.

Panic completely seized Al and he began shaking his brother's body and calling out to him, "Brother! Wake up! Brother!" But nothing helped. Ed's body was simply limp and dead, and Al began to cry.

A few moments later, Al heard a commotion in the pipes. He couldn't quite make out what the noises were from. They almost sounded like voices, but none that he could make out. His brother's body temporarily forgotten, he watched the pipes as the sound moved through them and then went down to the spot his brother had held and settled there.

The noises continued to be audible from that solitary spot. They didn't move again, for some reason, and they were growing louder. Al was nervous. Should he get out of the shed? What about his brother's body? He was too little to be able to carry something as big as that, even if he was more coordinated than the average four-year-old.

Finally the voices reached a crescendo that was clear and crisp so that there could be no mistaking what was being heard. The voice said, "Al, get my body over here so I can get out. Come on already!"

Al looked between the pipe and the body he was holding in his hands, hardly daring to believe what he had just heard. Possession without a seal was impossible, wasn't it? Surely his brother would've known that, since he remembered his Gate experience best. He would have known if he didn't have to resort to using a blood seal, wouldn't he?

"Al!"

Al finally stood up, staggering under the weight of his brother's body. He managed to get it almost standing and he lifted one of his brother's arms to press against the pipe.

The next thing he felt was that some sort of dam had broken loose as a surge of energy passed through Edward's hand and into the rest of his body. It was so intense, Al could feel it even without being the recipient of such energy.

The energy settled down a few moments later, and Al looked at his brother's body. To his delight, he was breathing again. Al's knees buckled in from the excitement, so he carefully lay his brother down on the floor to avoid dropping him.

A few more minutes passed by, and Edward finally opened his eyes. Al was instantly upon him. "Brother, are you okay? What happened? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Edward slapped his hand over his face, probably to hide himself from Al's barrage of questions, and he said, "Geez, Al, can't a guy make a simple science experiment without you freaking out?"

"But this isn't science," said Al, "This is about your _life_, Brother! Don't toy around with it. I wouldn't know what to do without you!"

"I'm not toying, Al." Edward turned his eyes upward to look at Al, who was sitting behind him, resting Ed's head on his knees. "If I don't find an alternative way out of here, my life will be finished. I don't think my little counterpart wants to know that he's going to grow up only to die once he travels back in time."

Al bowed his head. "You're right." He lifted his eyes to look into his brother's. "So how did the experiment go, anyway?"

Ed closed his eyes and sighed. "It felt weird. I can say that much." He rolled over onto his side and propped himself up to look at Al better. "But once I accepted the pipe as my body for the time being, I was able to travel anywhere I wanted through the pipes." He paused for a moment and then smiled. "Mom's making cherry pie."

"Really?" said Al, and Edward nodded. Cherry pie was his favorite kind, and he hadn't been able to have his mother's cherry pie in ages. He was going to have to have at least one slice of it before they exercised a plan to fix this mess they had gotten themselves into.

"Are you okay with walking, Brother?" Ed nodded, so Al stood up and walked out of the old shed, his brother following closely behind. Al then turned, smiled at his brother, and then took off running back toward their house.

"Hey!" Ed called, "That's not fair! I never said I was okay with running!"

Al chuckled under his breath and ran anyway. Cherry pie was his favorite, not his brother's, so it only made sense for him to get there first. Besides, he wasn't as likely to eat the whole thing without giving anyone else a chance as his brother was. The sugar content alone would make him stop, unlike his brother who didn't seem to realize sugar existed, and so he ate and ate until he was sick and couldn't figure out why.

Al reached the back door and turned the knob so fast it looked like he'd burst it open. The smell of cherry pie flowed over his face. His mother looked up from what she was doing and chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit, Al. How do you always know when I'm making cherry pie?"

Al shrugged, just as a heavily panting Edward arrived at the back door and pushed his way past Al. He wiped some sweat off of his forehead and said, "Mom, punish him."

"Whatever for?"

"For being an obnoxious, sneaky little brother."

Trisha chuckled and took several of her utensils to the sink to wash them off. "I think I'll leave that to you guys."

So, they commenced the stupid faces game. Edward stuck out his tongue. Al did it back. Edward stuck out his tongue and pulled his lips back with his fingers. Al stuck out his tongue and pushed his nose back like a pig. The two continued with their nonverbal dispute until Al decided it was too stupid to continue and Ed shouted, "See? I _can_ win against you!"

Al shook his head bemusedly. "I couldn't have won that game if I'd tried, Brother. You were born funny looking."

At this, Ed jumped up and chased Al into the living room, both boys laughing as hard as they were able to. Trisha, continuing to prepare her pie, shook her head and sighed pleasantly. Even she couldn't tell who had won that one.

Lust folded her arms across her chest, not the easiest thing to do in her body, and she turned toward Sloth. "So this new guy comes up to us claiming to be a homunculus and wants to join our team. What do you think?"

Sloth sighed as she sat down and patted Wrath's head. "There are already seven of us. Seven sins. There is no eighth sin. Would he be able to fit in when all the positions are taken?"

"Hey, slow down a minute," the intruder finally spoke up and held up his index finger for silence. "I don't care how many sins there are or how many sin positions have been taken up. I didn't come to ask to be a sin, I came because I wanted an edge with these government affairs, and you guys have your fingers intertwined into everything."

At this, Sloth crossed her arms across her chest too, and Wrath, seeing her do so, proceeded to copy her and glare at the newcomer. "What do you have to offer in exchange for these things that you want?"

"What do you want me to offer?"

"Power," said Lust. "We want to know what you can do and how you will be useful to us."

"No problem," said the newcomer, and he clapped his hands and then crossed his arms so his hands touched his shoulders. The three homunculi watched with awe at what he was doing. Another homunculus who could do alchemy?

The newcomer's body twisted and turned for a bit under the strain of the alchemic energy, and then it settled down into a figure that looked just like Lust. "Is this enough to impress you?"

Lust slowly stood up and approached the figure who now looked exactly like her and ran her fingers over the curves in this person's body. It wasn't an illusion. The man really had changed his form right in front of them, and he'd done it with alchemy. He had Wrath's and Envy's skills combined into one.

Sloth stepped up. "How can we know we can trust you?"

A snicker. "How can you expect any homunculus to be trustworthy? Don't you all rebel from time to time if you don't get what you want?"

"No, I---" and then Sloth stopped. She may have been the most innocent-looking one, but that didn't stop her from having her periodic issues of rebellion.

"As long as I'm getting what I want, I won't rebel. It's common sense."

"You've made your point clear," said Lust, "Now change back into your other form before I'm completely creeped out."

The man chuckled and then did as she'd asked. He was now a young man with brown hair and blue eyes, the appearance he had brought with him when he'd first entered their lair.

"You must work for us and do our bidding to get the benefits you desire," said Lust, "But so long as you do, we will reward you. Rebel, and we may be forced to punish you."

"Understood." The man bowed politely to them and then stood up and looked into their eyes. "I'm not a sin, and no sin positions are open. But you can call me whatever you like."

"Any ideas?" said Lust. She was talking to Sloth, but it seemed the man had assumed she was talking to him.

"Eh, just call me Trouble I guess. Because that's what I'm going to be causing to the people out there from now on."

"Trouble," said Lust. "It's not a sin name, but I like it. Very descriptive of your personality. Very well, Trouble, go about your business as usual. We will call you when we need you."

"Thank you," said Trouble, and he bowed and exited their lair, leaving the three homunculi to wonder who was going to get the brunt of most of the troublesome things he would cause. Would it be the humans, or would it be themselves?

"I want out of this body! This doesn't feel good!" Winry couldn't tell who was complaining at the moment, but whoever it was, they were suffering enough to be brought to tears by it.

She hugged Al's body and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what to do. I don't know any alchemy, so I can't pull you guys out of there and send you back to your own time."

A sad look from Al. "You don't know any alchemy?"

Winry shook her head. "Nope, just auto-mail."

Al put on a pouty expression and so Winry just hugged him all the tighter. It was so sad to see grown up Al acting like a little child. It meant things weren't quite as they should be. And with the brothers time traveling all over the place, things definitely weren't as they should be. Time travel had the potential to mess things up, didn't it? Surely if the authorities had known it could be done, they'd have outlawed it.

A light tremor began to surface in Al, causing Winry a little concern, so she rubbed her hand against Al's back to try and calm him down. The tremor only increased in intensity until it was full-fledged shaking, and neither of the two beings in Al's body seemed to be able to do anything about it.

Winry held him tighter. She was scared herself, but she had to pretend to be strong in front of the boys. She didn't want them to be too terrified over their future. Finally Al lurched forward, took a couple deep breaths, and then relaxed into her arms.

She continued rubbing his back and saying things to try and soothe him, but nothing was getting through to him. That is, nothing got through to him until he finally looked up at her, blinked a couple times, and said, "Winry?"

Winry raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Al sat up and looked at his arms. "I'm back in my own body?" He touched his chest, abdomen, and legs. "I'm really back in the right time. Brother really managed it."

Winry's eyes were wide with hope. "…Al?"

Al looked up to her and said, "Yes?"

So Winry threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, saying that she was so glad he got back safely. Then she pulled away to look into his eyes and said, "You said Ed got you back? What happened to him?"

Al shook his head. He looked like he really didn't want to talk about it, but she had to know, so she pressed on. Finally he sighed. "I don't know what Brother did. He said he had something planned, but he wouldn't tell me what it was and made me come back here anyway. I think he was afraid of getting my hopes up if he failed."

"I see," said Winry. Her face carried a forlorn look, and she offered Al a somber smile, one which he returned to the exact degree she had offered it. Neither one of them was very optimistic about what had happened to Ed. If he wouldn't tell Al about his plans, then that meant there was a very high risk of failure, and failure was probably exactly what had happened, since Ed was not currently here.

Winry nuzzled herself into Al's shoulder and said, "I'm just glad you're back, Al," though her voice betrayed her underlying tears. Al hugged her back, and rested his head on her shoulder. They never meant to do it since they both valued looking strong for each other, but they both started crying, right there.

They were too exhausted to get to their destination that day, so they returned to their house for one more night, hoping against hope that the soldiers would delay looking for them there for just one more day.

The next day, when Winry went out to get the mail, she nearly got a heart attack when she found a certain postcard among all her other mail. There was no name, no return address, but still…

She ran back into the house and said, "Al, take a look at this!" Winry was waving the postcard wildly, and it took a few tries to catch it, but eventually Al got it and pulled it out of her hand, which made her pout slightly.

Al's eyes went wide. "That's his handwriting. I know it is!"

"I thought so too!" said Winry as the two looked down at the postcard.

There, printed on the postcard in large letters, was the phrase, "I'm Alive."

_**Hope you liked that. With any luck, we should hopefully have another chapter soon, so check back soon, and feel free to nudge us if we don't have it ready soon.**_


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